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II X'.' 



COI'YRIC.IIT I )i: POSIT. 



Our Negro Population 



A Sociological Study of the Negroes of 
Kansas City, Missouri, 



BY 

ASA E. MARTIN 

'/ 

Teacher of History and Civics, Westport High 
School, Kansas City, Missouri, 

WITH A PREFACE BY 

L A. HALBERT 

Superintendent of the Board of Public Welfare, 
Kansas City, Missouri. 



Accepted as a Thesis for a M, A. Degree at 

William Jewell College, Liberty, 

Missouri. 



published by 

Franklin Hudson Publishing Company 

kansas city, mo. 






OPPORTUNITY, 

i expect to pass through this life but once: 
If, therefore, there is any kindness 
I can do to any fellow-being. 

Let me not defer or neglect it — 

For I shall not pass this way again." 



Copyright 1913 
By Franklin Hudson Publishing Co. 
Kansas City, Mo. 



©UA35103 



PUJ / 



CONTENTS. 



PrEEACE PAGE 9 

Introduction page 23 

CHAPTER I. 

General Economic Conditions page 27 

The Negro as a wealth-producer. — Economic need 
of the Negro. — Industrial discrimination. — Assessed 
property values according to races. — Distribution of 
real and personal property. — Economic status of the 
two races. — Taxation and suffrage.— The Negro's 
sphere of industrial activity.— Negro home-owners. 
— Attitude of the city toward Negro districts. — Ta- 
ble showing occupations, value of homes, incomes, 
etc., of Negro property-owners. — Influence of church- 
es upon the economic life of the Negro. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Negro in Business page 42 

Attitude of the Negro toward Negro business men. — 
Development of Negro industries. — Joint stock com- 
panies, etc. — List of Negro business concerns. — The 
Negro as a competitor for the business of the Negro 
race. 

CHAPTER III. 

Incomes page 47 

Labor. — Discriminations against Negro labor. — Ta- 
ble showing distribution of Negro wage-earners ac- 
cording to age and sex. — Occupations, incomes, etc., 
of Negro male wage-earners. — Skilled laborers. — Un- 
skilled laborers. — Nature of work and influence upon 
the Negro. — Gainful occupations, incomes, etc., of Ne- 
gro female wage-earners. — Nature of the work. — The 
Negro woman as a wage-earner and the influence upon 
the home. 

5 



Our Negro Population. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Expenditures page 6i 

Table showing expenditures according to incomes. — 
Expenditures for various items. — Food, rent, cloth- 
ing, fuel and light, car-fare, alcoholic beverages, and 
miscellaneous articles. — Table showing expenditure 
for various articles. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Housing Conditions page 86 

General housing conditions. — Lack of interest in the 
housing problem.- — Activities of the Board of Public 
Welfare. — Table showing rent and overcrowding. — 
Location and description of Negro congested dis- 
tricts, Belvidere, Hicks' Hollow, and The Bowery. — 
Negro apartment-houses. — Discussion of water, baths 
and toilets, and privy vaults. — Kansas City's hous- 
ing code. — Poverty. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Health and Morals page 107 

Table showing death-rate in fifteen representative 
cities. — Comment on table. — Causes of death ac- 
cording to races from various diseases. — Diarrheal 
diseases, heart diseases and dropsy, pneumonia, tu- 
berculosis, etc. — Relation of races to different dis- 
eases. — Table showing birth-rate according to races. 
— Comparison of birth- and death-rates. — Mortal- 
ity of Negroes. — Common-law marriage and effect 
upon the Negro race. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Crime page i 26 

Classification of criminals. — Table showing the police 
force, population, number of arrests, etc., for a num- 
ber of American cities. — Comment. — Arrests made 



Our Negro Population. 7 

in State cases. — Arrests made in city cases. — The 
Reformatory for Women. — The Municipal Farm. — 
Juvenile arrests and disposal of. — Discussion of con- 
ditions producing crime. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

BenevoIvEnt, Insurance, Social Societies. . . .page 140 
Social instincts of the Negro race. — Table showing 
the strength and benefits of the Negro secret bene- 
ficial societies. — Influence on the Negro. — The church 
as a benevolent agent. — The Negro and insurance. — 
Nature and object of industrial insurance. — Other 
societies, such as Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, clubs, etc. — The saloon, pool-hall, and barber 
shop as social centers. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Education page 163 

Relation of education to social reforms. — Legal status 
of the Negro schools. — Table showing school age and 
enrollment according to races. — Occupations of par- 
ents of Negro pupils. — General conditions of the 
Negro schools. — Comment on tables. — Department 
of compulsory education. — Illiteracy. — Vacation and 
night schools. — Lincoln school.— Educational prog- 
ress of the Negro. — Influence of education on the 
Negro. 

CHAPTER X. 

Religious Life page i 79 

Religious instincts of the Negro race. — Table show- 
ing the numerical and financial status of churches. — 
Comment. — Church property. — Negro ministry. — 
Organization and activities of churches. — Missions. 
— Benevolences. — St. Simon's Nursery House. — Al- 
len Chapel. — Institutional church work. — Influence 
of the Negro churches. 



PREFACE. 

From the chapters of this book, so carefully pre- 
pared by Mr. Martin, one may glean a very striking 
and significant picture of the Negroes of Kansas City. 

The Health of the Negro. 

The thing that has impressed me as the most 
striking and sensational feature of this report is the 
revelations it makes about the death-rate and birth- 
rate among the Negroes. The Negroes of Kansas 
City have more than twice as high a death-rate as 
the white people, and, contrary to the general im- 
pression that they are prolific in raising children, it 
appears that the birth-rate among the Negroes is 
actually lower than it is among the whites. Five 
times as many Negroes as whites die from tuber- 
culosis. There is no doubt a close connection be- 
tween this high death-rate and the great poverty and 
ignorance that exist among the Negroes. The suf- 
fering that this condition implies should arouse the 
sympathy of every one who has any humanitarian 
impulses whatever. Nobody should be so preju- 
diced as to be willing to countenance unnecessary 

9 



lo Our Negro Population. 

suffering, even on the part of animals, much less of 
human beings. 

Not only this humanitarian sentiment, but a 
sense of real danger should arouse the community to 
a determined effort to remedy the conditions implied 
in this high death-rate, because the presence of a 
host of Negroes afflicted with tuberculosis working 
as servants, washerwomen, porters, etc., etc., is a 
constant menace to the health of all our citizens. 
However revolting it may seem, it is nevertheless a 
fact that those diseases connected with the social 
evil which are sometimes called the "Great Black 
Plague" are also continually being communicated 
from one race to another, and there is no disease 
which breeds in poverty and filth that may not be 
communicated from the easy victims who live in 
want and squalor to the most prosperous people in 
the community. 

The community must send the housing in- 
spector into defective homes, and must greatly im- 
prove the housing conditions, raise the standard of 
sanitation, provide sewers and city water for all the 
houses, exercise more rigid control over contagious 
diseases, and perfect the medical inspection in 
schools until every child is carefully inspected and 
every sign of sickness among the children is followed 
up by the school nurse. 



Our Negro Population. ' ii 

Economic Life. 

Among the features of the picture which stand 
out boldly none is more prominent than the poverty 
of the Negroes of Kansas City. About 20,000 of 
them are renters; of these, about 15,000 have not per- 
sonal property enough to be subject to any taxation. 
Many of them have not enough food to maintain 
them in proper health. Hundreds of children go to 
school without enough clothing to keep them warm 
in the winter time. In cold weather the majority of 
the Negro families huddle around the kitchen fire 
and live almost entirely in one room. Robert 
Hunter describes poverty as the constant fear of 
want. One thing that helps the situation with re- 
gard to Negroes is, that they do not seem to have the 
spirit of depression and despair that one might im- 
agine would go with so great poverty. 

One of the screens exhibited at the Kansas City 
Child Welfare Exhibit contained this statement, 
which was compiled from the records in the Board of 
Public Welfare Research Bureau : 

"One hundred thousand dollars given annually for 
child improvement by private charities of Kansas City. 

"One thousand dollars goes to Negro children. 

"Fifteen out of one hundred children in Kansas City 
are Negroes. 

"The colored child gets only one-fifteenth of his share." 



12 Our Negro Population. 

Although there is great poverty among the Ne- 
groes, they do not constitute a great burden on the 
charities of Kansas City. Instead of being relfeved, 
they simply live below the poverty-line, and, as a 
result of their bad conditions, die a premature death. 
One of the greatest causes of this poverty is, no 
doubt, the inefhciency of the Negro as a producer. 
A good deal of this is due to the lack of training, 
both in the habits of persistent application and 
thoroughness and also in mental accuracy and 
manual dexterity. The greatest service which 
could be performed for the Negro by our public 
school system would be to train him so that he will 
have the requisite character and skill to be a thor- 
oughly useful man or worthy man from a doUar-and- 
cents point of view. 

So long as it is true that most white people in the 
community, and especially those of us who would be 
inclined to criticise the Negro for foolish expend- 
iture, could not possibly manage to live at all on the 
income with which the Negroes cover their house- 
hold budgets, it does not seem very fitting to talk 
much about the foolish expenditure of the Negroes. 
And yet it seems like a terrible loss for the Negroes 
of Kansas City to spend $400,000 a year on in- 
toxicating liquors, and for people who can ill afford 
it to gamble away probably ;j!>50,c)oo a year, and to 



Our Negro Population. 13 

buy in very small quantities or on installments and 
pay nearly twice what the same articles cost more 
prosperous people. 

It is surely one very important feature in the in- 
dustrial failure of the Negro that so many useful 
occupations are closed to him because of his color. 
It is really a very foolish policy that benefits nobody 
to refuse to utilize all the productive skill which the 
Negroes possess. It involves no matter of social 
equality to give the Negroes equal industrial oppor- 
tunities with everybody else in the community, and 
the dollar which he produces is just as good a dollar 
as that produced by any other man. There is no 
doubt that the efforts of the Negroes to supply them- 
selves with fuel by picking up waste lumber and 
scraps of coal and bits of junk tends to conserve and 
utiHze things that might otherwise go to waste, but 
it is no doubt a means of continually tempting them 
to petty thievery. It is also true that the habit of 
making up to the Negro what he lacks in wages by 
giving him old clothes and tips, etc., etc., tends to 
pauperize him and break down his self-respect. If 
the Negro can be given a practical education that 
will fit him for earning a living, and can have a free 
opportunity to give a dollar's worth of service for a 
dollar's worth of pay, the problem of poverty will 
largely take care of itself. In other words, the 



14 Our Negro Population. 

economic salvation of the Negro cannot be worked 
out without providing him industrial and moral 
training through the public school. 

InteivUgence:. 

No doubt the standard of general intelligence 
among the Negroes is very low, but illiteracy is rap- 
idly disappearing. The efficiency of the Negro 
schools of Kansas City, even in the matter of sup- 
plying purely literary or cultural education, is low. 
Many teachers are poorly equipped for their duties. 
Many have too many pupils to look after. From 
almost every point of view where statistical compari- 
sons are possible, Mr. Martin's comparison of col- 
ored and white schools shows the colored schools to 
be behind. These defects are worth noticing; but 
the greatest defect is one I have already noted in 
connection with the Negro's earning capacity — 
namely, that his education is very illy adapted to his 
needs. A good many Negroes who have been pre- 
pared for office work or literary or professional pur- 
suits are either idle or working as porters, barbers, 
waiters, etc. Since the community is already spend- 
ing large sums on the education of the Negro, it 
should at least so modify its system as to get the ut- 
most possible return for the money invested in 
Negro education. 



Our Negro Population. 15 

The Negro as a PoliticaIv Factor. 
The Negro as a factor in political life in Kansas 
City would form an interesting subject of inquiry. 
There are 4,500 registered Negro voters, and there 
are probably at least 6,000 male Negroes of voting 
age. At the last Presidential election the total 
number of voters in Kansas City was 61,637. This 
shows that while about one-tenth of the population 
of Kansas City is Negro, only one in fifteen of the 
registered voters is a Negro. Apparently, they do 
not participate in political life by voting with the 
same interest as their white neighbors. It is un- 
doubtedly true that comparatively few of them ex- 
excise any independent judgment, but most of them 
are guided by some political boss or leader. Not 
only among the Negroes, but through the commu- 
nity generally, there is great need of free and open 
discussion of civic and political questions and of 
systematic education on social problems. Clubs 
for the free and fair discussion of political questions 
from all points of view which are independent of 
control of any particular party are much needed, 
and would raise the standard of intelligence among 
the voters very materially. The number of arrests 
among Negroes is sometimes affected by political 
bias, and this undoubtedly has some effect on the 
comparative statistics of crime between Negroes and 



i6 Our Negro Population. 

white people; but the fact that Negroes are very 
poor and generally without much influence probably 
has an even greater effect on the number of arrests 
and convictions charged against them. 

The Negroes are probably not accorded positions 
in public offices in proportion to their numbers or to 
their merits. The Negroes are undoubtedly dis- 
criminated against in the use and equipment of 
public parks, playgrounds, and baths. They should 
at least have places in proportion to their numbers 
that are equal in quality and equipment and extent 
to those provided for the white people. Whether 
they pay taxes directly or not makes no difference, 
because they all pay taxes indirectly when they pay 
their rent or when their labor produces the profit by 
which any employer pays his taxes. 

While the Negro may be compelled to fear the 
Government and obey it, he cannot regard it with 
loyalty and affection unless he sees convincing evi- 
dence that it is fair and just to him. It is not only 
important for him to know that he will receive that 
to which he is justly entitled, but it is also equally 
important for him to know that none of his race can 
receive any kind of immunity from just prosecution 
because of some political reason. 

The Negroes have started commercial amusement 
parks in two or three places and their presence has 



Our Negro Population. 17 

been strenuously objected to by white neighbors. 
It is probably true in these particular cases that the 
conduct of the parks was not above reproach ; but it 
is important that if any attempt is made by the 
Negroes to supply themselves with legitimate recrea- 
tion, nothing should be put in their way. Absolute 
justice toward the Negro on the part of every public 
agency is fundamental, if we expect to make a good 
citizen of him. 

Moral and Social Problems. 

In regard to the peculiar moral and social prob- 
lems presented by the Negro race, it is probably a 
fact that some prejudice exists against the Negro race 
on account of their previous condition of slavery, 
but this is by no means responsible for the total 
amount of race prejudice which may exist in the 
community. Race prejudice exists in every nation 
and between all races to a very great extent. The 
hatred of the Negro is no more intense than the 
feeling against the Chinese and Japanese on the 
Pacific coast. A considerable part of feeling against 
Negroes as a race is due to their shortcomings and 
actual inferiority on the part of the mass of the 
Negro people. It does not help to improve their 
condition for anybody to deny or slur over this fact. 
By far the most important factor in removing the 



i8 Our Negro Population. 

prejudice against Negroes must be achievement of 
high character, efficient workmanship, good abiHty, 
and absolute merit on the part of the Negro him- 
self. While this is true of the race as a whole, it is 
not true in the same degree of individuals, because 
the very best Negro individual is bound to be handi- 
capped by the general reputation of his race. The 
mental suffering which the Negro of intelligence and 
refinement must undergo is distressing beyond the 
power of any ordinary white person to imagine, and 
it is only fair to demand of the white community 
that they should be discriminating in their judgments 
and that Negroes should be judged according to 
their individual merits and qualities, and not merely 
according to their color. 

The morals of any community must be based, to 
a great extent, on the character of its home life. 
One of the greatest handicaps suffered by the Negro 
race in this country is its low appreciation of mar- 
riage, which it has inherited from the old promis- 
cuous life of slavery days. There prevails among 
the Negroes a vast amount of loose family life, con- 
ducted under the general designation of "common- 
law marriage" — where people live together without 
being regularly married. When the people become 
dissatisfied, there is a shifting of partners, which 
often results in jealousy and fights, and is always ex- 



Our Negro Population. 19 

ceedingly detrimental to the children who have been 
born of such unions. I believe that a campaign of 
drastic enforcement of marriage laws among the 
Negroes would help to educate them along these 
lines very materially and would improve conditions. 
Careful instruction in sex hygiene and morality and 
a thorough training in domestic economy and in- 
struction in home Hfe in its broadest sense would go 
a long way to uproot this evil. Schools, churches, 
and public machinery must all be brought to bear on 
the solution of this particular problem. 

The Negroes are fond of recreation and music 
and are very sociable by nature; therefore a great 
power for uplifting them might be exercised by pro- 
viding them with proper amusements and giving 
direction to their social and recreational life. This 
could be done most thoroughly and admirably 
through the free use of the public school buildings, 
if they were properly equipped with recreational fa- 
cilities, but it will not be enough to open such school- 
houses as we now have for this purpose. They 
are very poorly adapted to use as recreation centers 
in their present form and with their present facili- 
ties. Some people seem to feel that when the 
schools have been opened, the whole question of es- 
tablishing social centers has been solved; but this is 
the merest beginning. There must be trained lead- 



20 Our Negro Population. 

ership and supervision and convenient facilities; 
these are almost wholly lacking up to the present 
time. These agencies would be the most efficient 
weapons in fighting the evils of intemperance, lust, 
and gambling. 

RHIvIGious Life. 

In regard to the religious life of the Negroes, I may 
say that it is a subject of great fascination, because 
the religious experiences of the Negroes are full of 
emotion and visions of poetic imagery that are often 
beautiful and suggestive. The Negroes are imagina- 
tive and emotional and musical. All these faculties 
go to enrich their religious experiences. The prob- 
lem of the Negro preacher of to-day is to fill the im- 
agination of the Negroes with true, pure, and lofty 
ideals, and to transmute his emtions into motive 
power for doing good, and to use his musical talent to 
enrich his religious worship. The trouble has been 
that religion has not always been linked up with 
morality and self-control. The community should 
expect the Negro religious organizations to exercise 
moral leadership over their people. They should be 
appealed to to co-operate in moral and social reforms. 
It is to be hoped that the emotional life of the Ne- 
gro can be controlled without being extinguished. 
While the Negro churches have their faults, when all 



Our Negro Population. 21 

things are taken into consideration, it seems that 
they are batthng with the problem in a quite com- 
mendable way. 

This study of the Negro race in Kansas City by 
Professor Martin puts the community in possession 
of much valuable information that should be of great 
service to the people, both white and colored, who 
are interested in improving the character and condi- 
tion of the Negroes in our city, and it should be sug- 
gestive to the people of other communities in regard 
to their problems and duties in the same direction. 

L. A. Halbert, 
General Superintendent, 
Board of Public Welfare. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The pressure of nearly ten millions of Negroes in 
the United States, the greater number of them 
massed below the Mason and Dixon Line, has created 
economic, political, and social problems of tremend- 
ous importance to the present and future of this 
Nation. These problems differ not only from lo- 
cality to locality, but from man to man, and in addi- 
tion to a personal and local equation there is a class 
equation, which is determined to a large extent by 
the place of residence and the environment in which 
the individual has been reared. The character, en- 
vironment, and capacity of the Negro must be care- 
fully observed, if the solution of the problems con- 
nected with his existence here is ever to be found. 

The present study of this question has revealed to 
me as never before the fact that the average Negro is 
totally out of adjusment to the society in which he 
lives; yet this fact should be fully realized by all 
who are concerned either with the discussion of the 
problem or with the work of uplifting the race. The 
Negro does not enjoy the respect and confidence of 
his employer— a condition which is due largely to 
the fact that the Negro has not been able to adapt 
himself to the free wage system. If this is true, the 

23 



24 Our Negro Population. 

solution of the problem consists, first of all, in giving 
the Negro such training as will fit him for a place in 
our industrial life. This means "industrial train- 
ing," in the broad sense of the phrase, for the masses 
of the colored population — training that will de- 
velop character and the intelligence necessary for 
efficiency in production on the one hand and for 
citizenship on the other. 

With the desire to call these facts to the attention 
of the public, I have made a detailed study of the 
23,566 Negroes of Kansas City, Missouri, believing 
that a better understanding of them and their 
various relations will remove some of the greatest 
obstacles in the way of the Negroes' advancement. 

Kansas City, Missouri, is located on the dividing- 
fine between the North and the South and the East 
and the West and possesses a representative popu- 
lation; hence the social, economical, and political 
conditions which exist here are typical of the country 
as a whole. 

The following table shows the distribution of 
population for 191 2 according to races in twenty 
representative cities of the United States: 



Our Negro Population. 25 

White 
City. Population. 

Denver, Colo 203,955 

Omaha, Nebr 1 19,670 

Cincinnati, Ohio 353»952 

Philadelphia, Pa 1,464,549 

St. Joseph, Mo 73>i54 

St. Louis, Mo 643,069 

Columbus, Ohio 168,772 

Indianapolis, Ind 211 ,844 

Kansas City, Mo 224,815 

Oklahoma City, Okla.^. 57,659 

Topeka, Kans 39,141 

Kansas City, Kans. . . . 73,041 

Baltimore, Md 473, 73^ 

San Antonio, Tex 79,898 

Louisville, Ky 183,406 

Fort Worth, Tex 60,032 

New Orleans, La 249,813 

Washington, D. C 236.623 

Nashville, Tenn 73,837 

Atlanta, Ga 102,937 

The materials of this study were collected during 
January, February, March, and April, 191 2. A de- 
tailed study was made of all phases of Negro life, 
such as schools, churches, crime, etc. The writer 
also made a personal canvass of five hundred repre- 
sentative families, using the following schedule of 
questions in his investigation : 
Residence ? 



Colored 


Per Cent 


Population. 


Colored. 


5.426 


2.5 


4,426 


3 


5 


19,639 


5 


4 


84,459 


5 


4 


4,249 


5 


6 


43,960 


6 


4 


12,739 


7 





21,816 


9 


3 


23,566 


9 


7 


6,546 


10 


I 


4,541 


10 


4 


9,286 


II 


2 


84,749 


15 


I 


16,716 


17 


3 


40,522 


18 





13,280 


18 


I 


89,262 


26 


3 


94,446 


28 


5 


36,523 


33 





51,902 


33 


5 



Number of persons in family? 

Sex? 

Age? 

Number of times married? 



26 



Our Negro Population. 



6 

7 
8 

9 

lO 
12 

13 

15 
16 

17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 

23 
24 

25 
26 

27 
28 

29 
30 
31 



Number of times divorced ? 

Usual occupation? 

Income per week, head of family? 

Income per week, wife? 

Income per week, children? - 

Number of week's employed during 191 1 ? 

Number of places employed during 191 1 ? 

Duration of employment in the present place? 

Rent paid per month? 

Number of rooms? 

Length of residence in the present place? 

Value of furniture ? 

Owner of home? 

Mortgage on home, and amount of same? 

Total wealth? 

Expenditure for food? 

Expenditure for fuel and light? 

Expenditure for clothing? 

Expenditure for car-fares? 

Expenditure for intoxicating liquors? 

Expenditure for insurance and fraternal dues? 

Ability to read and write? 

Member of church? 

Member of fraternal order? 

Bath in house? 

Toilet in house? 



In the main, there was but little trouble experi- 
enced in the matter of securing answers to questions ; 
in fact, if the willing spirit of the answers is an index 
to their accuracy, the report is 99 per cent correct. 
Questions 11, 21, 22, and 25, however, were very 
hard to answer, and the results obtained from them 
may be of little value. As to the other questions, 
the answers were as satisfactory as could be expected. 



Our Negro Population. 27 



CHAPTER I. 



Economic Condittons. 

Our first inquiry will be concerned with the 
Kansas City Negro as a wealth-producer and his con- 
sequent material progress during the past twenty 
years. Kansas City does not make any classified 
race distinctions on her tax lists; therefore it has 
been somewhat difficult to secure accurate data. 
However, after visiting several hundred Negro prop- 
erty-owners in all the different sections of the city, 
and after interviewing numerous white men, in- 
cluding the tax assessors and collectors, who are fa- 
miliar with the question, I can give, with a fair de- 
gree of accuracy, the present economic status of the 
Kansas City Negro. These results are indeed inter- 
esting and instructive, for the Negro, contrary to 
the prevalent opinion, is even to-day a great eco- 
nomic factor. Many of our difficulties with and 
misunderstandings of the Negro are due to his de- 
Hnquencies; quite as many, however, are due to his 
advancement. One of the tragic elements of the 
situation lies in the fact that the white community 



28 Our Negro Population. 

knows practically nothing of the most honorable and 
most hopeful aspect of Negro life, while the press 
keeps us informed to the uttermost concerning the 
disturbing elements among the colored population. 

Seeing the Negio on the street is not seeing the 
Negro ; it is a one-sided view, yet it is the only one of 
which the white community has direct and accurate 
knowledge. The white world at its best is looking 
upon the Negro world at its worst. When the Negro 
passes out of domestic service or unskilled employ- 
ment into a larger world, the white community loses 
its personal and definite information. The Negro 
passes into the unknown. As he attains progress, 
he, by that very progress, removes the tangible evi- 
dence of advancement from the immediate observa- 
tion of the white community; and yet those who 
would observe broadly will find a patiently and per- 
sistently increasing number of true families and real 
homes — a number far in excess of the popular es- 
timates. Scores of such homes exist in Kansas City 
for those who will try to find them and will try 
sympathetically to know them. 

Economically, the Negro needs more widely 
opened doors to industrial opportunity, so that 
wage-earners may receive steady employment and 
better remuneration — remuneration that will enable 
them to purchase more and better homes. 



Our Negro Population. 29 

Previous to the year 1890 the Negro freeholder 
of Kansas City was a safely negligible quantity in 
the city's economic situation. But we must re- 
member that the Negro at his emancipation was in 
no way equipped to acquire property, and that, in 
addition to his ignorance, superstition, and poverty, 
he was and is to-day held back by many forms of 
discrimination at the hands of his white brother. 
He must live in certain sections of the city (usually 
where the white man does not care to live), pay 
exorbitant rent for the limited number of houses 
available to him, and do only certain kinds of work 
and then at the wages offered him. Yet, in the face 
of all these difficulties, he has made remarkable 
progress. 

The following table gives a comprehensive view 

of the total assessed property values of Kansas City, 

Missouri, for both races : 

Assessed Property Values of Kansas City, 
Missouri, 19 n. 



Kinds of 
Property. 


Whites. 1 Negroes. 

1 


Total. 


Real 

Personal . . . 
Total 


^123,037,780 j $1,400,000 

27,942,894 1 50o,oop 

150,980,674 1,900,000 


^124,437,780 

28,442,894 

152,880,674 



About 40,000 different people own real estate in 
Kansas City, Missouri, and pay taxes on 116,000 
different tracts valued at $124,437,780 in the aggre- 



30 Our Negro Population. 

gate, which represents a per capita realty wealth 
of $501.75. 

According to the 19 10 census, the white popula- 
tion of Kansas City, Missouri, was 224,680 and the 
Negro population was 23,566. From these figurew 
we get a white per capita realty wealth of $543.69, 
while the Negro per capita is only $59.40. 

Again, of the 40,000 different property-owners, 
only about 800 are Negroes. From these figures we 
get $3,138.90 as the average white holding and 
$1,750 as the average Negro holding. The $1,400,- 
000 worth of real estate owned by the Negroes of 
Kansas City is distributed among 800 different 
holders, about as follows : 

Owning property valued above $10,000 50 

Owning property valued betw. 5,000 and $10,000. . 100 
Owning property valued betw. 1,000 and 5,000. .200 
Owning property valued betw. 500 and 1,000. .450 

About 81,000 whites and 2,000 Negroes paid 
taxes during 191 1 upon $28,282,894 worth of per- 
sonal property, which represents a total per capita 
wealth of $114.04. These figures, taken by races, 
give the whites a per capita wealth of $124.27 and 
the Negroes $21.21. 

It has not been found possible to take account in 
these returns of the mortgages and other indebted- 
ness upon either real or personal property. From 



Our Nf.gro Population. 31 

the acknowledgments, however, of the owners of 
houses visited, I found between 60 and 70 per cent 
encumbered. Among the poor class of Negroes 
there are many claims and liens held by time- 
payment concerns against pianos, organs, sewing 
machines, pictures, and furniture. It is probable 
that two-fifths of the personal property is more or 
less encumbered in this way. In its effect upon the 
Negro as a potential property-accumulator, this sys- 
tem is exceedingly deplorable. I was told by a 
second-hand furniture dealer that he realized from 
400 to 500 per cent upon all furniture sold to Negroes 
on the weekly payment plan. The payments are 
kept up for a few weeks or months; then the articles 
are taken from the Negroes because of their inability 
or disinclination to continue the burden of the 
weekly payments. 

These figures further show that the entire Negro 
population of Kansas City (9.47 per cent of the 
total) possesses $1,900,000 worth of property, per- 
sonal and real, which represents only .0124 per cent 
of the entire taxable property of the city. These 
figures are, indeed, very low; yet, when we take into 
consideration the time during which the two races 
have been accumulating this wealth, the showing is 
exceedingly creditable. 



32 Our Negro Population. 

Again, the Negro holds .0112 per cent of the real 
and .0175 per cent of the personal property, or .0124 
per cent of the total assessed wealth of the city, 
which is equivalent to $80.61 per capita, while the 
white per capita wealth, both real and personal, 
is $667.96. 

Recently a committee of the American Economic 
Association estimated that all of the taxable prop- 
erty in the United States owned by Negroes amount- 
ed to $300,000,000, or about $33.00 per capita, these 
estimates being based upon the 1900 census returns. 
Taking the rate of increase for the past twenty years, 
we find that the 19 10 census would raise the amount 
of taxable property to about $500,000,000, or to 
$52.60 per capita. *Mr. H. H. Thomas, himself a 
Negro, in his book, "The American Negro," places 
the individual average accumulation throughout the 
South at the present day at $90.00 per capita, but 
this is evidently an estimate of the total, rather than 
the assessed valuation. The $80.61 per capita 
wealth of the Kansas City Negro, while $28.01 above 
the first estimate for the Negroes of the whole 
United States, seems, of course, very small when 
compared with the $667.96 per capita owned by the 
whites of Kansas City, or with the $1,000 for the 
whole United States. At the present rate of increase 

* Thomas, "The American Negro," p. 76. 



Our Negro Population. 33 

it will take the Kansas City Negroes about 250 years 
to accumulate $667.96 per capita, which is the pres- 
ent white per capita wealth of the city. The figures 
further show that the Kansas City Negro is worth 
$28.01 more than the average United States Negro, 
while the Kansas City whites are worth $332.04 less. 

It is also evident that about half of all the Negro 
property is in the possession of fifty persons; that 
of this half one-fourth is in the hands of eight per- 
sons; further, that of this $237,500, more than one- 
half, $140,000, is owned by one man. These fig- 
ures show that the wealth of the Negro, as well as 
that of the white man, is concentrated in the hands 
of a few men. 

From data received in a house-to-house canvass of 
nearly 500 representative heads of families, together 
with the information secured from the city assessor 
and collector, I feel safe in saying that not more than 
one Negro man out of every three pays any form 
of taxes. This condition is indeed deplorable. It 
leads us to believe that the Negro looks upon his 
Government as something foreign to him and of 
which he is not a part and in which he has no interest. 
This state of affairs is due largely to the negligence of 
our city officials, who do not assess many of these 
people on account of their poverty, and who make 
little effort to secure payment from those assessed. 



34 Our Negro Population. 

Every citizen, regardless of his financial status, 
should be compelled to pay taxes, even though it is 
only a few cents. It would be a constant reminder 
that this government is a government of the people, 
of which he is a part. And when he comes to a 
realization of this fact, he will be a willing tay-payer 
and a more desirable citizen. 

Again, out of a total tax revenue of $1,690,275.85 
collected by the city during 191 1, only $21,172.35 
was paid by Negroes; in other words, 9.47 per cent 
of the population pays $21,172.35, or .0125 per cent 
of the total revenue of the city. 

It is evident that the possession of real estate is 
notably lacking among Kansas City Negroes, taken 
as a class, although the percentage of home-owners is 
rapidly increasing, as there are at the present time 
about 700 in the most desirable sections of the city 
available to them. 

The industrious Negro finds himsef very much 
handicapped, since there is only a small portion of 
the city where he is permitted to live and a still 
smaller section where it is possible for him to pur- 
chase property; these districts are naturally the 
most undesirable locations in the city: "Hicks' 
Hollow," "Belvidere," and "The Bowery" are ex- 
amples. The home-owning district lies between Ly- 
dia and Kansas Avenues and Twelfth and Twenty- 



Our Negro Population. 35 

seventh Streets, where there are still further restric- 
tions, as there are many blocks in which Negroes 
are not allowed to Hve or ow'i property. 

There are several instances where Negro property- 
owners have been forced out of white blocks by 
threatening letters, telling them to move within 
thirty days, over the signature of "Dynamite." In 
other instances the dynamite stick has actually been 
used; this was the case on Montgall Avenue, where 
six explosions occurred during 19 10 and 191 1. vSev- 
eral of the property-owners on that street had of- 
fered to sell at a reasonable price after learning that 
they were not desirable neighbors, although no pros- 
pective buyers appeared. 

In a house-to-house canvass in a portion of the 
Negro property-owning district the following results 
were secured: 

Homes owned on Highland between Twelfth and 

Twenty-seventh Streets 104 

Homes owned on Woodland between Twelfth and 

Fourteenth Streets 12 

Homes owned on Woodland between Twenty-fourth 

and Twenty-seventh Streets 27 

Homes owned on Flora between Twentv-third and 

Twenty-fifth Streets .' 37 

Homes owned on Vine between Twelfth and Fifteenth 

Streets i ^ 

Homes owned on Michigan between Twenty-fourth 

and Twenty-sixth Streets 35 



36 Our Negro Population. 

Homes owned on Cottage between Flora and Wood- 
land i8 

Homes owned on Howard between Vine and Woodland 7 

There is a considerable settlement of Negro home- 
owners in Centropolis and also between Agnes and 
Walrond Avenues on Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth 
Streets. In that locality lots 50x150 feet sell at from 
$3 to $5 per foot. Between forty and fifty Negroes 
have purchased there during the past two years. The 
Afro-American Investment and Employment Com- 
pany, which is located at 1005-7 McGee Street, sold 
to Negroes during 191 1 $69,000 worth of real estate. 
This company, which has been in business for five 
years, reports that during that time only six Negro 
homes have been forfeited on account of lack of 
payments. 

The city takes little interest in any of the Negro 
districts, except to have them well patrolled by po- 
licemen. The streets and walks are poorly kept, 
and no provision whatever is made for parks, play- 
grounds, or public baths. The Civic League, of 
which Mr. W. C. Hueston is president, offered prizes 
last year for the best-kept yards and houses, and 
much inteiest was manifested in the contest. 

The Negroes of Kansas City are beginning to ap- 
preciate the fact that land-ownership is a powerful 
factor in the uplift of their race, but something more 



Our Negro Population. 



37 



than a desire to own property is necessary in order to 
bring about its realization. There must be property 
which is purchasable. The buyers must have steady 
employment at reasonable wages. The Negroes' 
sphere of activity, as well as their place of habita- 
tion, is very much limited, although it is possible 
for many of the race to buy homes. 

The following table, which was compiled from 
information received through a house-to-house can- 
vass, shows the occupations, average incomes, and 
other facts in reference to 197 property-owners: 













^ 








-d 


j:3 


(V 








(U 


^-» 






u 


umber 
Room 


^ 


a 





Occupations. 


(V 

B 


u 




pq 






Z 


^'^ 


S 


*^ 


■^ 



^ . 

•-I 3 

> Oj 











Barbers 

Dentists 

Draymen. . . . 

Doctors 

Janitors 

Laborers 

Laundresses . . 

Lawyers 

Porters 

Porters, R. W. 

Teachers 

Tailors 

Teamsters . . . 
Waiters 



8 


50 


6 


2 


2 


3 


6.0 


I 


2 


2 


4 


50 


3 


I 


I 


12 


6.0 


3 


6 


8 


19 


6.0 


13 


5 


5 


41 


50 


28 


7 


7 


10 


50 


8 


2 


2 


3 


6.0 


I 


2 


2 


12 


4-9 


7 


3 


4 


20 


5-6 


8 


5 


5 


24 


5-8 


II 


12 


12 


5 


50 


4 


2 


2 


6 


50 


4 


I 


I 


22 


4.8 


8 


7 


8 



$1,930.00 
2,500.00 
1,900.00 
2,500.00 
2,130.00 
1,800.00 
1,720.00 
2,500.00 

1,730.00 

2,0.00.00 
2,270.00 
1,840.00 
2,000.00 

2 , 1 00 . 00 



1 800 

1,150 
800 

1,100 
820 
701 
600 

1,800. 
710. 

1,100. 
800. 
770. 
800. 

1,000, 



.00 

.00 

.00 

.00 

.00 

•30 

.00 

.00 

.00 

.00 

00 

00 

00 

00 



4 
o 

3 

10 

25 
o 
o 
5 

4 
4 
3 
4 

7 



il 



38 Our Negro Population. 

The above data were somewhat difficult to secure 
with accuracy, especially that in regard to incomes 
and values of property. The incomes given in the 
table represent the earnings of both husband and 
wife. 

The Negro churches of Kansas City are begin- 
ning to realize the present weaknesses of the average 
Negro. They are discovering that it is his lazi- 
ness, misdirected energy, lack of foresight, pleasure- 
seeking propensities, and immorality that to a large 
extent are keeping him in poverty. The fact that 
about 90 per cent of the property-owners are church 
members, and that the churches of the city own 
about $300,000 worth of property, on which there is 
a debt of not more than $50,000, leads us to believe 
that their efforts have been at least partly successful. 
The churches are teaching their people to be proud 
of their race ; to care for and support each other ; to 
look to the future and provide for a rainy day; to 
see that there is really something in life worth while, 
aside from the saloon and gambling-den. Many 
different methods have been used with varying de- 
grees of success by the ministers. One of them has 
accomplished so much that I believe it would be ad- 
visable to give a full description of his work. 

When the Rev. T. H. Ewing took charge of the 
Vine Street Baptist Church fifteen years ago, only 



Our Negro Population. 



39 



three of his members were property-owners. At that 
time there were not more than thirty-five Negro 
property-owners in the entire city. During four 
years he lectured to his people on the lo cents a day 
saving plan. He advised them to walk to their 
work and save that nickel; to live, eat, and dress ac- 
cording to their means ; to stay out of the saloons and 
away from the theaters, and to think of and provide 
for the future. He advised them to buy their gro- 
ceries in bulk and to pay cash instead of using the 5 
and 10 cent credit plan, so popular to-day, and he 
showed them in plain figures how much could be 
saved during the year and what could be done with 
the money. He said : 

"You are Negroes— poor Negroes at that. You 
haven't any business buying chicken or porterhouse 
steak. Buy from $1 to $2 worth of meat— shoulder 
— at a time, 100 pounds of flour, i bushel of potatoes, 
and 50 cents worth of beans." 

After four years he began to preach, "Keep a 
bank account, and buy a home just as soon as pos- 
sible," and he has been preaching it ever since. 
Whether he meets his members in the church, on the 
street, in his or their homes, he asks them about 
their bank accounts, their plans for the future, and 
discusses wages; and he keeps after them until they 
come to a realization of the importance of what he 



40 Our Negro Population. 

advocates. There are several interesting organiza- 
tions in his church, among them "Economic" clubs 
and "Financial" companies. 

The Economic Club was organized some time ago 
with the following objects : 

1. The members are to keep bank accounts. 

2 . They must dress according to their means. 

3. They must purchase homes as soon as 

possible, and cease paying rent. 

4. They must visit no places of amusement on 

the Sabbath day, and not more than 
twice a month on other days, and then 
they must not pay more than 25 cents 
for seats. 

5. They must keep a close record of the 

number of members who have bank 
accounts and own property. 
There are three Financial or joint stock com- 
panies, one for men and two for women; these com- 
panies have been in existence for from two to eight 
years. All three of these companies own property — - 
two, business buildings, and the other one owns a 
residence, from which fair returns are realized. 

Mr. Ewing was looked upon by his people for sev- 
eral years as an uneducated fool, but his sincerity, 
ceaseless labor, and common-sense have won for him 



Our Negro Population. 41 

the respect and confidence of the entire Negro popu- 
lation of Kansas City. His church membership is 
only 600, but 100 of that number own their homes. 



42 Our Negro Population. 



CHAPTER IT. 



The Negro in Business. 

The Negro people, as a whole, are suspicious of 
their own leaders. They hesitate to patronize their 
doctors and dentists or to purchase supplies from 
Negro stores. This lack of confidence is a relic of 
slavery days, when the Negro was forced to look upon 
his race as inferior. And Negro leaders in the past 
have not had that sense of fairness and justice that 
would tend to inspire confidence and trust. Their 
educated men have too often used the poor and ig- 
norant ones as a means of acquiring wealth, disre- 
garding the well-being of the race as a whole. 
Scores of such men have lived in Kansas City and 
many are living here to-day. Fortunately, there are 
also many of the opposite type, who have proved 
trustworthy, and who are now enjoying the confi- 
dence and patronage of their own people. The 
churches have encouraged these establishments and 
have taught the people to patronize them. 

A number of joint stock companies, composed 
mostly of teachers, doctors, and lawyers, have been 
organized within the last few years. To-day they 



Our Negro Population. 43 

own and operate several stores. "The People's 
Drug Store," "The Ideal Pharmacy," and "The 
Temple Shoe Company" are of the number, most of 
them being modern, up-to-date establishments. 

There are in Kansas City, Missouri, four well- 
equipped Negro drug stores, with a stock valued at 
$27,500; they are doing an annual business of $57,- 
500. Three of these stores have been in operation 
eight years. There are four undertaking and em- 
balming establishments, doing an annual business of 
$600,000; one shoe store, one dry goods store, about 
twenty-five pressing and cleaning establishments, 
seven saloons, eighty-five tailor shops, seventy-five 
pool-halls, two newspapers, and numerous restaur- 
ants, all doing an annual business of about $325,000. 
The Negro is just entering the business world as 
a competitor for the trade of his own people, and 
thus far he has made a creditable showing. He is 
fast winning the confidence of his own race, which 
must be done before he can hope to receive the recog- 
nition of the white man. The problems and diflS- 
culties of the colored race are similar to those of the 
Jew, who has labored patiently and persistently 
through thousands of years of oppression -labored 
until he has won success. The excellent work, 
"White Capital and Colored Saloon," discussing 
this phase of the question, says : 



Our Negro Population. 45 

"Whether the white man Hkes it or not, the fact 
must be faced that under the modern system of industry 
which deals with the colored man as an independent 
wage-earner and in which he has the stimulus of the 
white man's ideals of education, the colored man must 
advance, and he visibly does advance to the level of 
understanding and self-reliance in which he will not ac- 
cept the negrophobist theory of exclusion." 

Special attention has been given in this discussion 
to the industrious, property-owning Negro, who rep- 
resents a small minority of the total population. 
Out of the 23,566 Negroes in the entire city, about 
7,000 live north of Eighth Street, 8,000 on "The 
Bowery" which is the Negro district between Troost 
and Woodland and Sixteenth and Twentieth Streets, 
and about i ,000 in the West Bottoms. Less than i 
per cent of these 16,000 people own real estate. 
They are exceedingly indififerent and shiftless. As 
laborers, their chief characteristics are unreliability 
and inability. They cannot see the necessity for toil 
so long as they are one dollar ahead. They nearly 
all drink, both men and women. They buy their 
groceries — in fact, everything they have to pur- 
chase — on the 5 and 10 cent plan, or for credit on 
the weekly payment plan. They take more pleas- 
ure in the regalia of a secret society than in the com- 
fort of a home. I visited one Negro, a strong, able- 
bodied man, who occupied three rooms in a basement 
under a saloon. The rooms were dark — so much so 



46 Our Negro Population. 

that one could not see to read in any of them with- 
out a Hght, as there was only one small window, 
which was under the back entrance to the saloon. 
In this place, unfit for human habitation, the man 
lived like a beast ; yet his future was well provided for 
— he belonged to three fraternal orders and carried 
two insurance policies, all of which guaranteed him 
a $275 burial, concerning which he spoke with much 
pride. But to lay aside as much per week against 
the coming of the inevitable rainy day is a feature of 
domestic economy utterly beyond his ability to 
comprehend. 

As one walks through these districts, visits the 
saloons, pool-halls, and barber shops, and sees there 
at all times the large number of idle men, he cannot 
but realize the difficulties of the Negro problem. 

There are scores of Negroes who see these condi- 
tions as they really are and earnestly desire to better 
them, but their efforts are thwarted on one side by 
race prejudice, which endeavors to keep the Negro 
in a position of ignorance, poverty, and dependence, 
and on the other side by the superstition and the 
ignorance of the Negro himself. 



Our Negro Population. 47 



CHAPTER III. 



Incomes. 



Labor is effort made for the satisfying of human 
needs. It is one of the three leading factors in pro- 
duction, the others being land and capital. Labor is 
the most important of the three, for without it land 
would not be made productive and capital could not 
result. Productive labor is that which yields what 
is necessary for man's needs. How are the needs of 
the 23,566 Negroes of Kansas City supplied? This 
question is frequently asked, especially when on 
Saturdays hundreds of Negroes are seen strolling 
aimlessly about or lounging at the street corners or 
in front of the dram-shops. With the colored race 
it has, in the very nature of things, been a hard 
struggle. Accustomed in slavery times to depend 
upon their owners for everything — not only for food, 
clothing, and shelter, but even for the control of 
themselves and their children — the Negroes had been 
taught none of the elements of success, self-reliance, 
or the faculties necessary to good management; 
they had no realization of the value of money nor of 
the intelHgent use of it. After emancipation, they 



48 Our Negro Population. 

entered the industrial world as free yet unskilled 
laborers; therefore their employment was limited to 
certain kinds of work in which training was not 
required. 

There is a universal feeling among white laborers 
that it is not right to employ Negroes when there is 
white labor to be had, yet the employers, as a rule, 
hold that the hiring of labor is purely a matter of 
cents and dollars and not of sentiment. In hun- 
dreds of cases white laborers have refused to work 
with Negroes, especially in the skilled trades. The 
Negroes' labor is there regulated by moral considera- 
tions, rather than by economic. Where both white 
and colored labor is employed, the kind of work done 
by men of each color is usuall\ distinct. The 
whites, as a rule, work inside, where skill is re- 
quired, and the Negroes do the rough, hard, outside 
work. I have been told that Negroes do the driv- 
ing, unloading, and other unpleasant work because 
white laborers refuse to work during bad weather, 
and that the whites do the inside "work because of 
their greater ability to assume responsibility. 

The Negro, for the most part, is an unskilled 
laborer, but he is highly efficient within the limits of 
his skill. He works best in gangs, under social im- 
pulses, and under white bosses. Members of their 
own race are looked upon by the colored men as 



Our Negro Population. 49 

hard, exacting, unreasonable masters, which many 
of them doubtless are, because they believe that 
better results will come from harsh treatment, and 
they desire, of course, to please their white employ- 
ers. I have also noticed a similar lack of confidence 
in a Negro engaged in any capacity other than that 
of a laborer. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to 
encourage and support those who hold such positions, 
since a few are beginning to reaUze the necessity of 
working together for the welfare of the race. Eco- 
nomic development depends upon united effort, and 
the race as a whole should take pride in every 
individual promotion. 

The 23,566 Negroes of Kansas City may be 
classified as follows: 

Negro children fourteen years of age and under 6,300 

Neiro men between the ages of fourteen and sixty . .8,150 
Negro women between the ages of fourteen and sixty.8,000 
Negroes, male and female, over sixty years of age . . 1,206 
These estimates are based upon the 1910 census, 
together with the school census of Kansas City for 
the same year. I have included in the last item of 
the Hst all men and women, regardless of age, who, 
because of disease or infirmities, are unable to work. 
With a desire to answer with accuracy the ques- 
tion, "How are the needs of the Negroes of Kansas 
City supplied?" I made a careful investigation of 
the labor conditions in reference to place of employ- 



50 Our Negro Population. 

ment, salaries, and the nature of the work, and from 
the data secured the gainful occupations of the 8,150 
males are divided into the following classes : 

Number. Total Incomes. 

Barbers 240 $ 140,000.00 

Dentists 4 6,000 . 00 

Doctors 23 27,500.00 

Janitors 350 187,000.00 

Laborers 5,006 1,750,000.00 

Lawyers 6 9,000 . 00 

Police Service 8 8,640.00 

Postal Service 20 21,000.00 

Porters in Barber Shops 375 150,000.00 

Porters in Hotels 140 67,000.00 

Porters in Saloons 600 300,000.00 

Proprietors, Independent 90 55,000.00 

Pool- Hall Owners ." . 75 36,500.00 

Preachers 25 15,000.00 

Pullman Service 140 108,000.00 

Railway Service 250 130,000.00 

Teachers 30 27,500.00 

Waiters 510 408,000.00 

Teamsters 210 155,000.00 

Total 8,100 $3,811,140.00 

It has been impossible to ascertain the number of 
skilled laborers in the city, though the number is 
very small. The trained mechanic is still in a 
pitiful minority amid a mob of common laborers. 
It has also been difficult to secure information in re- 
gard to the number of Kansas City, Missouri, Ne- 
groes employed in the different classes, since many 
Kansas City, Kansas, Negroes work regularly on 



Our Negro Population. 51 

this side, and several Kansas City, Missouri, Ne- 
groes are employed just across the State Line in the 
great packing-houses. However, after receiving es- 
timates from the different employers, I feel safe in 
giving the above figures. Nine hundred of the 5,006 
common laborers among the Negroes are employed 
at the packing-plants, 800 are hod-carriers, 2,000 
work on the street for the city or for the Metro- 
politan Street Railway Company, and the remaining 
1 ,306 are engaged in various forms of labor. 

The 900 Negroes employed by the packing com- 
panies receive from 16 to 2 2>^ cents per hour and 
work from six to ten hours each day. They have 
steady employment during the entire year. The 
Armour Packing Company employs 2,574 men; 14.4 
per cent, or 386 of them, are Negroes. This per cent 
is lower than it has been for years, and it seems to be 
decreasing each year; a fact which is attributed to 
the shiftlessness of the young Negroes. The packers 
are desirous of having at all times at least 25 per cent 
of their employees Negroes for two reasons: first, 
the Negro has greater ability than the white to do 
hard work; and second, few Negroes belong to labor 
unions and those who are members seldom strike. 
One of the two large steam plants of the Armour 
Packing Company is managed by a Negro, and many 
other positions requiring skill and responsibility are 



52 Our Negro Population. 

held by them. There is probably no other large em- 
ployer of Negroes in Kansas City which treats col- 
ored workmen with more consideration than does 
the Armour Packing Company. Dressing-rooms and 
free baths are provided, coffee is served at luncheon 
(two cups for 5 cents), and the old employees who 
are unable to keep up their regular work are given 
other work, which they are able to do, at the same 
salary. 

The 800 hod-carriers are employed on an average 
of twenty weeks each year ; many of them, however, 
when not worKing at their trade, do anything they 
can find to do. The remaining 3,306 laborers, the 
majority of whom work on the streets, are employed 
about thirty weeks each year. The hod-carrier re- 
ceives from $12 to $17.50 per week. Ordinary la- 
borers average about $10.50 per week when working. 

The 5,006 laborers earn annually $1,750,000, or 
$342.74 per capita, and are employed on an average 
of thirty-one and a fraction weeks per year; there- 
fore, each of these laborers is idle nearly twenty-one 
weeks each year. They are not wholly responsible 
for these conditions, since the nature of the work 
which they are compelled to do makes it necessary 
for them to be idle every time the weather is bad; 
besides, this kind of work is done by jobs, and often 
employers do not have work to offer. 



Our Negro Population. 53 

The fact that the Afro-American Investment and 
Employment Company found work for 2,700 dif- 
ferent men during 191 1 shows conclusively that the 
Negroes either do not have steady employment or 
are shiftless and unreliable. 

Although able to secure work only a little more 
than half the time, the Negro has not, as a rule, 
saved his earnings or used them with strict economy, 
thus providing for his idle days. Neither the white 
nor the colored man is truly free and independent 
while he relies upon each day's labor for that day's 
food and shelter. 

There are about 1,415 Negroes employed as 
waiters and porters in hotels, in barber shops, and on 
trains, who receive an average guaranteed salary of 
$26 per month or $312 per year, making a total an- 
nual income of $441,480. According to information 
given by about seventy-five such employees, the 
average income is $609.90, which gave a total an- 
nual income of $863,000 — in other words, the people 
of Kansas City pay in tips $421,120. The single 
fact that one pays a good round price for certain 
accommodations, and is then forced to tip the em- 
ployees in order to get the service paid for is on the 
face of it absurd. The patron simply gives certain 
sums of money to the employer with which to pay 
his employees for rendering to the patron the service 



54 Our Negro Population. 

he has already amply paid for. A law should be 
passed forbidding the giving or receiving of tips. 
The employer would then be compelled to pay regular 
salaries, and as a lesult of competition would render 
the very best of service possible. As it is to-day, the 
income of the employees is uncertain and irregular, 
since each one has a guaranteed salary of only $6.25 
per week, and the tips vary greatly from day to day. 
The Negroes are not altogether responsible for this 
condition, and from what I could learn they are very 
much dissatisfied with the whole system. They 
would prefer regular salaries upon which they could 
depend, even though their incomes might not be 
quite so large as they are now, and the patron should 
welcome the change that would be just and rea- 
sonable for all concerned. 

The saloons of Kansas City employ 600 Negro 
men; in the houses of prostitution are nearly 100 
more. Thus we have 700 Negro men constantly in 
contact with our most degraded citizenship. What 
effect is this destined to have upon the Negro, since 
he has been taught for generations to look upon the 
white man as his superior in every way? Many of 
these Negroes are not in this work of their own free 
will, but because of the fact that their field of ac- 
tivity is so limited that they must work in disrepu- 



Our Negro Population. 55 

table places or be idle and become applicants to our 
charitable institutions for support. 

To the list of 700 Negroes employed in the saloons 
might be added the 1,415 waiters and porters, most 
of whom serve drinks or do other demoralizing er- 
rands for their white friends. With 2,115 Negro 
men — one-fourth of the male wage-earners — directly 
or indirectly in the liquor business, we cannot ex- 
pect to see the churches and other elevating agencies 
materially better the general conditions of the race, 
especially until more widely opened doors of indus- 
trial opportunity have been secured. The situation 
is indeed discouraging, since it is this liquor that is 
keeping the Negro in poverty and sending to our 
prisons by the hundreds. 

The 8,150 wage-earners are idle about 140,925 
weeks annually, which is an average of 17.4 weeks 
for each individual, and he is rarely disposed to pro- 
duce much more than is required for his maintenance. 
Few prepare for the idle weeks. However, the needs 
of the Negro are comparatively few and simple. 
But idleness breeds crime and immorality. An un- 
working race can not be said to be truly educated, for 
labor is itself a part of education. 

Among the females the gainful occupations are 
divided about as follows : 



56 Our Negro Population. 

Number. Income. 

Cooks 500 $ 95,000 . 00 

Housekeepers 400 75,000.00 

Hotel Maids 100 20,000.00 

Incidental 300 42,000.00 

Laundresses 1,600 320,000.00 

Nurses 40 12,000.00 

Seamstresses. . 90 27,000.00 

Teachers 54 27,500.00 

Total 3,084 $618,500.00 

The above estimates show that there are about 
2,500 Negro women working as cooks, housekeepers, 
and laundresses. They have regular customers and 
go to and from their work each day. The laundresses 
are employed on an average of two and one-half days 
each week, and receive from $1.35 to $1.60 per day. 
The cooks and housekeepers have regular work and 
receive for their work from $4.50 to $S per week. 
In addition to these figures, many of the women take 
their meals with the people for whom they work. 
The salaries in the other classes vary greatly, as 
shown in the table. 

The Afro-American Investment and Employment 
Company secured 3,600 jobs for Negro women during 
191 1. Since there are only 3,084 Negro women who 
work at all, these figures show conclusively that large 
numbers are shiftless and unreliable. However, 
many instances were found where Negro women had 
worked at the same places for twenty or even thirty 



Our Negro Population. 57 

years, and had at all times given satisfaction. Yet, as 
a class, they are independent, and quit work whenever 
they feel disposed to do so, without a minute's notice 
to the employer. From information secured from 
white families who employ Negroes, I find that the 
average service with each family is less than eight 
months per year. Several instances were found 
where the help was changed as often as every month, 
or even every week, for months in succession. But 
the whites have been so long accustomed to this kind 
of help in their homes that they accept the situation 
in a spirit of mingled indignation and philosophy. 

As a result of this situation, Negro help is being 
gradually displaced by foreign white help, which is 
more reliable, thus further Hmiting the Negroes' 
sphere of activity. 

The fact that 3,084, or 63 per cent of all Negro 
women between the ages of fourteen and sixty, are 
wage-earners, with an annual income of $608,000, 
shows that they are industrious, and that when they 
desire to do so they can render efficient service. 
The tables further show that out of a Negro popula- 
tion of 23,566, there are 11,184 wage-earners with a 
total income of $4,419,140. 

The following table gives the occupations and 
wages of twenty-five heads of typical Negro families 
in Kansas City, Missouri, and the average income of 



It 



58 Our Negro Population. 

such families. The data shown were collected by a 
house visitation in January, 191 2 : 





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6o Our Negro Population. 

From this table we see that 13 of the 25 famiHes 
represented are unable or unwilling to get along with 
what the fathers' wages bring in. However, it is a 
small amount that is added to these lower incomes. 
A glance at the tables of occupation explains why the 
fathers' earnings are so inadequate. The occupa- 
tions predominating are those in which it is not pos- 
sible for the father to secure work more than two 
thirds of the time and when working to earn more 
than from $10 to $15 per week. If his family is to 
enjoy -comforts beyond what this sum will provide, 
some one else must earn, or a lodger or two must be 
taken in to help out on the rent. Families with com- 
posite incomes do not live so well on the same amount 
as do families supported entirely by the father. The 
principal resources for additions to what the father 
earns are the earnings of the wife and children and 
the income from the lodgers. 

The fact that the one Negro high school of the 
city has only 311 pupils enrolled, of whom only 104 
are boys, shows that the children have to go to work 
as soon as the law allows, sometimes earlier, if the 
standard of living is not to be lowered in the effort 
to make the same income meet the wants of children, 
who as they grow older must have continually more 
to eat and wear. Again, the father's work is ir- 



Our Negro Population. 6i 

regular and his earnings are small ; hence it is neces- 
sary for the other members of the family to work in 
order to be able to supply the necessities during his 
idle days. The mother is the chief source of this 
assistance. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Expenditures. 

The following table shows the total and average 
incomes of 348 fairly representative Negro families 
of Kansas City, Missouri, according to classified in- 
comes, and the amount and per cent of total expend- 
iture for rent, food, clothing, fuel and light, car-fare, 
and other expenses and savings. The data shown in 
this table were collected by house visitation in Janu- 
ary and February, 1 9 1 2 : 





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64 Our Negro Population. 

From these figures some idea of the economic 
condition of the Kansas City Negroes may be ob- 
tained. From the 348 famiUes represented, 26 or 7.4 
per cent, receive an average annual income of $168, 
and 64, or 18.3 per cent, receive $238.12. In this 
first instance the expenditures exceed the income by 
$49.20 and in the second by $31.72 for each family; 
in other words, 90, or 25.8 per cent, of the 348 fami- 
lies represented, are public charges to the extent of 
$36.77 per family each year. Most of these fami- 
lies receive assistance from the white charitable 
societies of the city. 

The expenditures of the average family, accord- 
ing to the figures in the table above, may be classified 

as follows : 

Annual Expenditures. Per Cent. 

Food $202 .41 38 . 46 

Rent Y16.29 21.27 

Clothing 49 • 15 7-62 

Fuel and Light 24.81 4.20 

Car-fare 1 8 . 80 3 . 00 

Other Expenses and Savings. 228.29 25.45 

Total $439 .75 100 . 00 

The relative expenditures for different purposes 
are shown in the tables above. The percentages 
show which are the elastic elements. Rent de- 
mands a decreasing proportion of income as income 
increases, going from 31.3 per cent for incomes be- 
tween $200 and $300 per year to 15.08 per cent for 



Our Negro Population. 65 

incomes of $1,000 and over, or an average of 21.27 
per cent. Food demands 54.5 per cent for annual 
incomes between $200 and $300, and gradually de- 
creases until only 22.6 per cent of the incomes of 
$1,000 or over are required. 

Clothing demands a larger proportion of the 
higher incomes than of the lower, going from 5.15 per 
cent to 11.35 P^^" cent. Fuel and light, on the other 
hand, gradually decrease as the income increases, 
going from 7.9 per cent to 2.78 per cent. Under the 
heading ''Other Expenses and Savings," the ex- 
penditures, including furnishings, society and church 
dues, amusements, and miscellaneous, show a rapid 
increase in percentage with increasing incomes, 
going from 8.7 per cent for annual incomes between 
$300 and $400 to 48.92 per cent for incomes of 
$1,000 and over. 

Food. 

Food is much the largest item in the family 
budget, comprising 38.64 per cent of the total outlay. 
The average amount spent for food rises from $112 
per annum for incomes between $100 and $200 to 
$250 for the $1,000 and over gioup. But although 
the average amount increases by about $17.50 with 
each $100 added income, the percentage of total 
expenditure decreases by 3.88 per cent. 



66 Our Negro Population. 

Amount and Percentage of Expenditure for Food 











Av. 




Food. 






No. 
of 




No. 
per 


Total 
Av. 






Income Group. 


Total 




Per 






Fam- 


No. 


Fam- 


Income. 


Aver- 


Cent 






ily. 




ily. 




age. 


Total. 


$ I GO or under $ 


200 


26 


81 


31 


$168.00 


$112.00 


51 5 


200 or under 


300 


64 


180 


2.8 


238.12 


147 03 


54-5 


300 or under 


400 


78 


240 


3.08 


320.57 


163.30 


50.9 


400 or under 


500 


62 


124 


2.7 


432.26 


185.00 


42.8 


500 or under 


600 


22 


53 


2.4 


517-27 


199 54 


38.5 


600 or under 


700 


20 


70 


3.5 


627.50 


230.50 


36.5 


700 or under 


800 


43 


112 


2.6 


731-81 


244-34 


33-4 


800 or under 


900 


16 


43 


2.7 


814.28 


225.00 


27.6 


900 or under 


1000 


9 


35 


3.6 


943 - 60 


267.18 


28.3 


1000 or above 




8 


20 


2.5 


1133 33 


250.00 


22.6 



The above information was indeed difficult to 
secure with accuracy, since nearly all the female 
wage-earners take many of their meals with the 
people for whom they work. Again, very few keep 
an itemized account of their weekly expenditures. 
There is also a disposition among Negroes to assent 
to any suggestion made upon subjects concerning 
which they are not informed. The simple question 
"About what does your grocery and meat bill 
amount to per week?" nearly always brought the 
reply, "Good Lord! man, I don't know;" and a re- 
quest for a rough estimate brought the answer, "I 
hain't any idea." I might say then: "There are 
three in your family, and I am sure you are eco- 
nomical, so your bill would probably not exceed $3 



Our Negro Population. 67 

per week." "Yessir, mister, I think that's just 
about right." A suggestion of $6 per week would 
have received the same answer. I usually inquired 
in regard to their menu from day to day and for the 
different meals, asking about the quantity, method 
of purchasing, and the cost of each article. I also 
visited the grocerymen and meat-dealers in the 
Negro districts and talked with them about their 
Negro customers. No accurate information could 
be gotten, since the majority of them do a cash busi- 
ness, hence had few individual accounts. They 
agreed, however, that the Negro's grocery and meat 
bill depended upon his present income; that as a 
class the colored people purchase in small quantities, 
and are big eaters when they have money, but often 
during hard times live for weeks on from $1 to $2 
per week. Most families bought their supplies from 
day to day in very small quantities, partly because 
of the lack of facilities for storing and keeping food 
and paitly f'om lack of money to enable them to 
buy large quantities. Many famihes were found, 
however, who bought their staple articles, like flour 
and sugar, once a week; but in the greater number 
of cases butter was purchased by the quarter-pound, 
potatoes by the pound, and other supplies by the 
nickel's worth. Food bought in this way is at least 



68 Our Negro Population. 

25 per cent more expensive than when purchased in 
large quantities. 

It is safe to say that 25 per cent of the Negroes 
of Kansas City are underfed. The circumstances 
that frequently attend these families are: first, a 
large number of mouths to be fed — a larger fooa ne- 
cessity to be supphed; second, a larger dependence 
on other resources than the wages of the father; 
third, a desire to save money, even at the cost of 
adequate nutrition; and fourth, a low family in- 
come. Excluded from this enumeration is the lack 
of economy in management and of wisdom in the 
buying of food; but even with the greatest of 
economy the other causes do not cease to operate. 
In 95 per cent of these cases there is also evidence of 
exceptional expenditure for drink. 

Many of these underfed families are not able to 
purchase cook-stoveS; and as a result are forced to 
prepare meals on a small heating-stove, which does 
not cost more than $2 or $3. The stoves have only 
one cap, hence only one article can be prepared at a 
time ; they have no ovens, therefore everything must 
be fried, or purchased from the bakery. In the first 
instance, the food so prepared is unhealthful, and in 
the second, very expensive. 

Often colored men have to get credit from stores 
until work is resumed or until pay-day, and as a con- 



Our Negro Population. 69 

sequence there is a lien on the furniture as security. 
The most outrageous prices are charged. Further, 
the ignorant colored man is often charged for what 
he does not get, and the prices are from 100 to 300 
per cent more than would be charged if he were a 
white man and paid cash. If these evils were reme- 
died, the Negro would be able to advance much more 
rapidly than he has done in the past. If the colored 
people fully understood these abuses, they would 
probably associate together to mitigate the evils or 
to obviate the disastrous results of the credit system. 
These things cannot be done without the aid of the 
colored people themselves. 

With the Negroes of the upper classes whose in- 
comes exceed $600 per year I found conditions about 
the same as with the white race. The same articles 
are purchased and are cooked and served in much 
the same manner as in the homes of the white men. 

Rent. 

Rent is the second largest item in the family 
budget and is 21.27 per cent of the total outlay. 
About 87.5 per cent of the Negro famihes of Kansas 
City are renters. The accommodations offered are 
very unsatisfactory and the rent is very high. This 
subject will be fully discussed in a succeeding chapter 
on "Housing Conditions." 



70 



Our Negro Population. 



Clothing. 

The expenditure for clothing increases steadily 
with the increase of incomes, as shown in the ta- 
ble below, although the percentage remains about 
the same: 

Amount and Expenditure for CivOThing. 













Clot 


hing. 




No. 
Fam- 


Total 
Indi- 


Aver- 
age per 


Total 
Average 






Income Group. 




Per Cent 




ily. 


vidual. 


Family. 


Income. 


Average. 


of 
Total. 


$ I GO to $ 200 


26 


81 


3- I 


$ 168.00 


$ 13.80 


6.3 


200 to 300 


64 


180 


2.8 


238.12 


13 


90 


5 


15 


300 to 400 


78 


240 


3.08 


320.51 


18 


50 


5 


4 


400 to 500 


62 


124 


2.7 


432.26 


33 


87 


7 


84 


500 to 600 


22 


53 


2.4 


517-27 


41 


80 


8 


08 


600 to 700 


20 


70 


3-3 


627.50 


62 


00 


9 


8 


700 to 800 


43 


1 12 


2.6 


731.81 


69 


09 


9 


4 


800 to 900 


16 


43 


2.7 


814.28 


57 


14 


7 


01 


900 to 1,000 


9 


35 


3.6 


943 ■ 60 


107 


16 


1 1 


35 


1,000 or over 


8 


20 


2.5 


1,^33-33 


74 30 


6.55 



A glance at the table reveals the fact that the 
Negro whose income does not exceed $600 per year 
pays a very small per cent of his earnings for clothing. 
There are two reasons why this is true: First, the 
majority of the colored people are laborers, whose 
incomes do not justify larger expenditures for this 
purpose; second, those for whom the Negroes work 
make liberal gifts of clothing, not only for the 
workers, but also for other members of the families. 
Inquiry was made as to gifts of clothing received by 



Our Negro Population. 71 

families interviewed. While the answers brought 
out no exact data, they did show that a large pro- 
portion of the families on the lower incomes depend 
upon gifts to keep up such standard of dress as they 
maintain. The articles received were usually second- 
hand, but in fairly good condition, and included 
shoes, hats, underwear, shirts, and in fact everything 
needed in the way of clothing. The Negro women 
wage-earners are the recipients of most of the gifts. 
Scores of underclothed families were found. 
Many of them had gone through the entire winter 
without overcoats or overshoes and in some in- 
stances without underwear. Fifteen out of 230 
children visited of the school age were out of school 
because they had not sufficient clothing to wear. 
Of course, this condition is due, to a certain extent, 
to mismanagement and the neglect of the fathers 
and mothers, most of whom purchase a pail or two 
of beer daily, even though their children must go 
hungry. It is with this class of Negroes that social 
workers find the greatest difficulty. The Negroes of 
this class are irresponsible and utterly blank as to 
the future. They neither see nor desire to see their 
true condition; and it is this class that is furnishing 
a large per cent of the Negro criminals. The situa- 
tion will remain as it is until these people learn to 
deny themselves a few drinks, and get out and work 



72 Our Negro Population. 

in order to clothe themselves decently and provide 
respectable homes and wholesome food for their 
families. 

The apportionment of expenditure for clothing 
among the different members of the family is a 
subject of interest, though no accurate data could be 
secured. However, the following conclusions may 
safely be hazarded: The amount expended for each 
member of the family increases with each rise of in- 
come. In the case of families receiving gifts, how- 
ever, the movement is quite uncertain, perhaps be- 
cause the amount of gifts received bears no necessary 
relation to income. It appears also from the in- 
formation at hand that the father's clothing costs 
more than that of any other member of the family, 
and also that the percentage, but not the actual 
amount, diminishes as the income increases. The 
mother spends much less on her clothing than the 
father. Even in families with incomes of over 
$i,ooo, hardly a case was found in which the women 
spent as much for clothing as did the men. The 
boys and girls stand nearly on an even footing in re- 
gard to expenditure for clothing ; the average for the 
boys, however, being a trifle above that of the girls. 
In an average family with two children under twelve 
years of age the clothing allowance would be about 
as follows: the father one-third, the mother one- 



Our Negro Population. 73 

fifth, and the children from one-fourth to one-sixth. 
The table further shows that the annual expenditure 
for clothing of the ninety-six familes whose incomes 
exceed $600 per year was $70.66 for each family, 
while that of the ninety families with incomes under 
$300 was only $13.86 for each individual family. 

Fuel and Ltght. 

As shown in the table of incomes and expend- 
itures, the amount expended for fuel and light in- 
creases from $96.20 for incomes between $100 and 
$200 to $34.47 for incomes between $900 and $1,000, 
while the percentage gradually decreases from 7.4 
per cent to 3.65 per cent. The same lack of judg- 
ment and the mismanagement which is so charac- 
teristic of all Negro purchasers is especially notice- 
able here, and the data were even more difficult to 
secure than those of the other items of expenditure. 
Few records are kept of such expenditures, and since 
the purchases are in small amounts, it is difficult to 
obtain accurate estimates. The exact expenditures 
are probably from one-fourth to one-fifth more than 
those given in the table which represents the estimates 
given by the different families. Again, a great many 
families were found who gather a large per cent of 
their fuel on the streets and elsewhere free of cost. 
Usually the wood gathered consists of boxes thrown 



74 Our Negro Population. 

out by the merchants or waste material from build- 
ing operations. Many others pick up coal in the 
neighborhood of coal-yards and along railroads. 

Probably 70 per cent of all the Negro families in 
the city use coal for both cooking and heating pur- 
poses. The amount of fuel required depends upon 
the number and size of the rooms occupied and the 
character of the building. Individual economy and 
extravagance also appear in the variation of expend- 
itures for fuel and light as well as of taste and habit. 
Coal is bought in a few cases by the ton or half -ton, 
but usually in smaller quantities — by the bag of 100 
pounds for 50 cents, by the bushel of 75 pounds at 35 
cents, and by lesser quantities for from 10 cents to 25 
cents. Coal purchased in that way costs at least 
one-third more than when bought by the ton. The 
Negro should not be too severely criticised for this 
lack of economy, as he seldom has the amount of 
money necessary to purchase a large supply of coal, 
and besides he has no place to store it, since the white 
landlord generally makes no provision for such 
needs. The Negro does practice economy in the 
use of coal by heating only one room in the house 
during the winter months. This room is converted 
into a kitchen, dining-room, bed-room, and living- 
room, with a great saving of coal, but at a sacrifice 
of health. 



Our Negro Population. 75 

Very few Negroes with incomes under $500 per 
year use gas for either heating or cooking purposes. 
About one-half of those with incomes above that 
sum use it for both. There is no considerable dif- 
ference in the cost of the two methods of heating, 
although the gas is less troublesome and more un- 
satisfactory during extreme cold weather. It might 
be added, however, that gas cannot be picked up 
free, as other forms of fuel are. 

In regard to the kind of lighting provided, ker- 
osene is the main reUance among families with 
incomes under $500 per year, while those with in- 
comes over $500 per year are about equally divided 
between gas and electricity. The use of gas for 
cooking is somewhat less general than its use for 
lighting. Where kerosene is used, the average 
amount is about a gallon a week, costing from 
12 to 15 cents a gallon and from $5 to $8 a year. 

From the table on Incomes and Expenditures 
we see that the average amount spent for fuel and 
light for the 348 famihes represented was $24.81, or 
4.2 per cent of the total income. 

Car-Fare. 

The expenditure for car-fare in a given case de- 
pends upon the distance of the dwelling from the 
wage-earner's place of work, rather than upon income 



76 Our Negro Population. 

or occupation. The Negro residence districts of Kan- 
sas City are so located that few are within walking dis- 
tance of their work, hence car-fare is necessary. The 
table shows that the average amount paid for car-fare 
by the $ioo to $200 group is only $11.18 and that 
it gradually increases with every rise in the income 
until it reaches $28.72 for the $1,000 group. The 
only relation that car-fare bears to income is, that 
in the higher incomes steady employment is had, 
hence car-fare is needed ever day, while in the lower 
incomes work is secured only a little more than half 
of the time. 

The average annual expenditure for car-fare for 
each of the 348 families represented is $18.80, or 3 
per cent of the total income. In the families where 
both the father and the mother have steady employ- 
ment this single item of expense amounts to $1.20 
per week, or $62.40 per year. If we take 8,000 as the 
estimated number of Negro families in the city, and 
$18.80 as the annual expenditure for car-fare, the 
total amount expended every year by the Negroes of 
Kansas City is $150,400. 

Other Expenses and Savings. 

Under this head are grouped the items of the 
schedule not already considered, such as furniture, 
dues and contributions, recreation and amusement, 



Our Negro Population. 77 

education and reading, and miscellaneous. These 
items represent expenditures for the satisfaction of 
culture wants— that is, wants arising out of the de- 
sire for intellectual, social, and .esthetic qualifica- 
tions. They also include some physical satisfactions 
which are not indispensable to life, among which 
are tobacco and alcohol. 

Studying the table, one is impressed with the 
truth that the small amount left to the ordinary 
family is hardly worth considering. The first two 
income groups, which represent 25.8 per cent of the 
total, not only have nothing left after the necessities 
of life have been suppHed, but they have not even 
enough with which to supply these necessities; and 
the third income group of 78 families, or 22.4 per cent 
of the total, have only $27.96. The amount and the 
percentage increase constantly with the rise of in- 
come, starting with minus $22.6 per cent of the total 
income for the first group and rising to plus 48.9 per 
cent for the last group, thus showing that the desire 
for such satisfactions as we are considering tends to 
push ahead of the means available for satisfying 
them. 

Furniture. 

An effort was made to get an inventory of the 
furniture belonging to each family, and on the basis 



78 Our Negro Population. 

of the estimate given the famiUes are classified into 

groups according to the value of the furniture, 

as follows: 

43 families owning furniture valued at $25 or less. 

98 families owning furniture valued at between $25 

and $50. 
72 families owning furniture valued at between $50 

and $100. 
48 families owning furniture valued at between $100 

and $200. 
28 families owning furniture valued at between $200 

and $300. 
S3 families owning furniture valued at between $300 

and $400. 
26 families owning furniture valued at between $400 

and above. 

As in the case of other items of expenditure, the 
expenditure for furniture increases in proportion to 
the rise in income. In most of the houses in the 
lower income group nothing beyond the barest sup- 
ply of indispensable articles was to be found, such 
as beds, bedding, chairs, a table and a stove — ar- 
ticles which had been purchased at second-hand 
stores or had been given to them. Twenty-two fami- 
lies in the last two groups owned pianos. The figures 
given above are for the renters, hence do not include 
the 700 Negroes who own their homes. 

MiscEivLANEous Expenditures. 

Under this head are grouped such items as burial 
expenses, barbers' work, pool-halls, tobacco, theaters. 



Our Negro Population. 79 

and alcoholic drinks. It will not be without im- 
portance to consider some of these items separately. 
The Negroes of Kansas City pay about $60,000 
each year for burial expenses, which gives an average 
of $100 for each of the 600 deaths. Practically all 
this business is handled by the four Negro em- 
balming and undertaking estabhshments. Twenty- 
three and sixth-tenths per cent of the deaths were 
those of members of the fraternal orders. The ex- 
penses in such cases are paid by the orders, and in 
nearly all other cases, whether for men, women, or 
children, enough insurance is carried to guarantee 
them a respectable burial. 

There are 85 Negro barber shops in the city. 
The 8,150 Negro male wage-earners of Kansas City 
spend annually about $1 14,000 in these shops. The 
per capita expenditure is $13.98. The cost of two 
shaves per week and six hair-cuts during the year 
represents an annual expenditure of $17.10. Since 
the average expenditure is $13.98 for each wage- 
earner, it is evident that only a very limited number 
do their own barber-work. This is due, in part, to 
the lack of facilities in the homes of the Negroes. 

No effort has been made to collect data on the 
amount of expenditures for tobacco, for theater 
tickets, and for pool-playing. However, a fair es- 
timate would probably be about $30,000 for theater 



8o Our Negro Population. 

tickets and $30,000 for tobacco, while pool-playing 
would cost about $48,000. 

In regard to the expenditure for alcoholic drinks 
the information was incomplete, as no records were 
kept of such expenditures. I did find out, however, 
that 96 out of the 348 heads of families visited do 
not drink intoxicating liquors at all. Many others 
reported only a moderate use of them. I usually 
asked for weekly or monthly estimates of such ex- 
penditures, but no definite answers were received, 
not because they considered it a personal matter, 
but because they did not know. 

In nearly all cases where the men drink the 
women drink also, though with much more modera- 
tion, as they, of course, are not permitted to enter 
the saloons. About half of the liquor drunk by the 
Negroes of the city is purchased by the can and 
drunk in the homes. Most of the saloons handle 
cheap beer and cater to this home trade. One 
would naturally believe that this method of drinking 
would greatly lessen the quantity consumed, but I 
do not think that it makes any particular difference, 
since all the Negro congested residence districts are 
well supplied with saloons. A careful study of these 
districts, together with the locations of saloons, 
shows that at least 75 per cent of the Negroes of 



Our Negro Population. 8i 

Kansas City live within two blocks of at least 
one saloon. 

I was in 60 different homes where 220 peop.e 
were drinking when I called. In every instance 
more than one person was in the room, which goes 
to prove that this method of drinking is governed hs 
the same social tendencies that prompt drinking in 
the saloon. Negroes, both men and women, are 
great people when idle to visit among their friends, 
and one of the first thoughts when a friend calls seems 
to be to send out for a pail of beer; after which they 
consider themselves equipped for an enjoyable visit, 
and are free to drink as long and as much as they 
please. I was told by the poHcemen who work in 
these districts that there is as much drunkenness 
from this kind of drinking as from the saloon, and 
probably more arrests result therefrom. The revel- 
lers often drink until one or all are intoxicated, then 
the husband or wife, the man or woman with whom 
they chance to be living just at the time, arrives home 
from his or her work. Jealousy on the part of one or 
more members of the party results in a "free for all" 
fight, which ends in the arrest of all the participants. 
In my house visitation I found some persons intoxi- 
cated, and since most of my visits were made during 
the afternoon, it is evident that a great deal of 
drinking is done during the day. 



82 Our Negro Population. 

One afternoon, standing on the corner of Inde- 
pendence Avenue and Troost, I counted twenty-two 
pails of beer that were taken out of one saloon in 
just thirty minutes, which is a common occurrence 
in any of the congested Negro districts of the city. 

I was indeed glad to find that only a small per 
cent of the Negro property-owners were habitual 
drinkers. Anyone who is purchasing a home must 
work regularly, and at the wages a Negro is com- 
pelled to accept, be very economical in order to 
meet the monthly payments. I have noticed also 
that the men who have steady work do very little 
drinking — a fact which is easily explained. In the 
first place, they could not hold their positions and 
drink to excess; and in the second place, excessive 
drinking would weaken their efficiency, and thus 
make it impossible for them to keep up the standard 
of work required for any considerable length of time. 

Only 7 of the 596 saloons in Kansas City at the 
present time are owned and operated by Negroes. 
However, about 50 white saloons cater to Negro 
trade. I talked with about twenty proprietors in 
these white saloons concerning their Negro trade, 
and asked each to make an estimate of the annual 
expenditure by the Negro for liquors in the entire 
city. Four reported an annual Negro business of 
between $15,000 and $20,000, six between $10,000 



Our Negro Population. 83 

and $15,000, and ten between $5,000 and $10,000. 
All of these saloons make a specialty of catering to 
Negro trade, therefore are more generally patronized 
than others. 

There are fifteen saloons east of Troost Avenue 
on Eighteenth Street, Nineteenth Street, and Vine 
Street that sell to the Negroes of that vicinity about 
$150,000 worth of liquors each year. The expend- 
iture in the district north of Eighth Street and east 
of Main is about the same. The estimates for the 
other sections of the city were about $100,000, which 
gives a grand total of $400,000 for the annual ex- 
penditure for liquors by the 23,566 Negroes of 
Kansas City. Representing 8,000 as the total num- 
ber of Negro famihes in the city, and $407,000 as the 
total expenditure for alcoholic drinks, we get an av- 
erage annual expenditure of $50 for each family. 

In addition to the saloons mentioned above, there 
are a number of Negro clubs that, after paying a $25 
fee, are incorporated under the State laws and are 
permitted to sell liquors to their own members. 
Such organizations — both white and colored — avoid 
the payment of the license. 

This enormous expenditure for alcoholic drinks is 
indeed appalling, and the outlook is very discour- 
aging. It is the source, either directly or indirectly, 



84 Cur Negro Population. 

of much of the Negro's poverty, crime, and im- 
moraUty. 

The following table gives a comprehensive view 
of the different items of expenditure for the entire 
Negro population of the city: 

Alcoholic Drinks $ 400,000 

Barber-work i H.ooo 

Car-fare 150^400 

Clothing 393,200 

Church 38,000 

Dues for Insurance and Fraternal Orders i75»ooo 

Food 1,619,280 

Fuel and Light i93,440 

Funerals ■ •• • 60,000 

Pool-halls 45,000 

Theaters 30,ooo 

Tobacco 30,000 

Taxes 21,170 

Rent 900,320 

Other Expenses and Savings 249,330 

Total $4,419,140 

It seems safe to conclude, from all the data that 
we have been considering, that an income under $500 
per year is not enough to permit the maintenance of 
a normal standard. A survey of the details of ex- 
penditure for each item shows deficiency for almost 
every family in the lower income groups. 

An income of $600 or over probably permits the 
maintenance of a normal standard, at least as far as 
the physical man i3 concerned. With such an in- 



Our Negro Population. 85 

come the Negro is able to buy food enough to keep 
soul and body together and clothing and shelter to 
meet the most urgent demands of decency. The 
percentage of families who show a deficiency tends 
to diminish as the income increases, though extrava- 
gant families and economical families are found in 
all the income groups. 

The results of our investigation indicate that 
while the personal factor does not operate in the case 
of every family, the limits within which it may affect 
the actual sum total of the material comforts that 
make up the living of the family are set by social 
forces which find expression on the one side in the 
income which the family receives — that is, in the 
rate of wages received by the father and other mem- 
bers of the family who are at work, and on the other 
side in the prices that have to be paid to get housing, 
food, and the other means of subsistence. 



86 Our Negro Population. 



CHAPTER V. 



Housing Conditions. 

Kansas City possesses one of the very best park 
and boulevard systems in the country, and has an 
exceptionally large area upon which an unusual 
number of pleasant detached houses are owned by 
people in moderate circumstances. Few cities in the 
United States have better housing for the middle 
classes and for a large part of the working class ; yet, 
in spite of these hopeful conditions, Kansas City has 
a housing problem of sufficient gravity to call for a 
vigorous movement to eradicate the evils which now 
exist. The housing problem as related to the Negro 
is an especially serious one, since only limited dis- 
tricts are available to him for residence purposes; 
and, as the population increases, these districts must 
either be enlarged or become over-crowded. The 
latter course has usually prevailed, and as a result 
the conditions have been gradually growing worse. 

The white public as a whole have taken little in- 
terest in, and hence know practically nothing con- 
cerning, the general welfare of the Negro. They do 
not seem to realize that he is a citizen, exercising the 



Our Negro Population. 87 

rights of sufiFrage. When they do recognize this fact 
they will desire to make the very best citizen possible 
out of him. They will then judge him by the same 
standards by which they now judge the members of 
their own race. They will also see that cleanliness, 
sense of security, modesty, health, and good citizen- 
ship all depend upon the kind of houses in which 
people live, regardless of race or color. "Given a 
clean, lighted, ventilated house, and there is hope; 
given a dirty, unsanitary, dark, neglected house, and 
despair and immorality are inevitable." 

Such considerations as the above have been 
gradually taking a hold upon the minds and con- 
sciences of public-spirited men and women of Kansas 
City for several years; and as a result the Board of 
Public Welfare has been created, with authority "to 
take such steps as may be found necessary and ex- 
pedient so as to acquire full knowledge of the condi- 
tions of the people and the manner of living in the 
various parts of the city, and for that purpose it may 
employ investigations," etc. This board has done a 
wonderful work since its organization, and the in- 
formation secured has provided a sufficient amount 
of startling data to arouse public interest in a further 
study of the problem in a scientific manner for the 
purpose of eradicating many existing evils and es- 
tablishing a standard plan of housing for the future. 



88 Our Negro Population. 

It is the purpose of the present study to do for 
the Negro what has been done for the other races of 
the city, so that he may receive his just share of in- 
terest and consideration. The following table shows 
the number of rooms and the rent per month ac- 
cording to classified incomes of 348 representative 
Negro families: 



en 

Z 

H 

< 

Q 
< 

CO 

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W 
Q 

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to 
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2; 

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W 







: i 8 5. : 

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lO ■ 

00 • 


888 

»o »o >o 




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cs 


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8888888 

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to 




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888888S>8i^^ 


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8 

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90 Our Negro Population. 

These figures show that the 1,009 persons repre- 
sented occupy 179 rooms, which gives an average 
of 1.06 rooms for each individual. These figures do 
not indicate overcrowding to any great extent, since 
the estimate for overcrowding is usually placed at 
1.5 persons per room. We note also that 181, or 52 
per cent of the families, occupy three rooms. 

The congested Negro districts of Kansas City are 
located between Troost and Woodland Avenues and 
Seventeenth and Twenty-fifth Streets, between State 
Line and Bell Street on West Ninth Street, between 
Seventeenth and Twentieth Streets on Vine Street 
and Flora Avenue and between Harrison Street and 
Highland Avenue and Fifth and Eighth Streets. 

Most of the Negro tenement-houses are located 
on "The Bowery," which is the first district named 
above, where the population has been concentrat- 
ing for several years. With this shifting of popula- 
tion from "Belvidere" and "Hicks' Hollow" on the 
North Side to "The Bowery ' ' has come about also the 
moving of the Negro slums. Most of the buildings 
here are two- and three-story brick structures, ar- 
ranged in two- and three-room apartments. They 
are nearly all poorly constructed and are crowded 
closely together, many of them facing the alleys. 
Twenty-two blocks in this vicinity has a population 
of 4,295. 



p 




W^^^ 


1 


J% 


1 ^rs 




1 


%fc 


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»- 


1 








1 


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1 

■1 ^^ 


i 



92 Our Negro Population. 

For several years there has been a great demand 
for Negro apartments; they have' become quite 
fashionable among the Negroes, as well as among 
the whites, and as a result a great many have been 
erected to supply this demand. They offer some 
conveniences, such as brick buildings, paved streets, 
light and water, which the old dilapidated buildings 
on the North Side do not offer. 

In "Belvidere" and "Hicks' Hollow, "'which are 
the most notorious sections of the last-named dis- 
tricts, the buildings are mostly old two- and three- 
story frame houses, many of which have been va- 
cated by the whites, or condemned by the city and 
moved by the owners to these Negro residence dis- 
tricts, where they can be rented without trouble 
with the city officials. These buildings are crowded 
and jammed together along the streets and alleys, 
nearly covering the entire block. As they are prac- 
tically worthless, the owners cannot afford to repair 
them. Nevertheless, each apartment of two or 
three rooms brings its owner regularly his $8 or $io 
each month. 

Though more than i,ooo Negroes live in "Bel- 
videre" and "Hicks' Hollow," paved streets and 
sidewalks are exceptional, as the city seemingly 
takes little interest in the district, except to have 
it well patrolled. 



Our Negro Population. 93 

Another large element of the Negro population 
hves along Independence Avenue, West Ninth Street, 
Eighteenth Street, Nineteenth Street, and elsewhere 
over business houses, such as saloons, pool-halls, 
etc., which occupy the first floors of the buildings. 
I found the housing conditions far worse here than 
among any other class visited. Whole families live 
in a single room which has but one window, through 
which both light and ventilation must be supplied; 
the halls are long, dark, and dingy, with neither light 
nor ventilation. The occupants are of the most 
ignorant and shiftless type of Negroes. 

I have described in a preceding chapter the 
housing conditions in the Negro home-owning dis- 
tricts, where between 700 and 800 houses are owned 
and occupied by Negro famihes. This class is aug- 
mented by about 1,900 Negro families who rent 
detached houses. As a rule, these houses contain 
about five rooms, which are found clean and well 
furnished, thus presenting no housing problem. 

In the congested districts described above, where 
more than 15,000 Negroes live, the accommodations 
offered— whether the old dilapidated buildings in 
"Belvidere" or the cheap tenements on "The Bow- 
ery"— are very Hmited. Nearly half of the houses 
are without water, while less than one-fourth of them 
possess either baths or toilets. In many cases the 



94 Our Negro Population. 

water must be secured from a hydrant back of the 
houses; these hydrants are, of course, frozen up 
during a good portion of the winter — a condition 
which makes it necessary for the famihes to carry 
water from neighbors who chance to be fortunate 
enough to have water in the house, or to secure it 
from a near-by saloon. I was told by a number of 
white landlords that they could not afford to put 
water in the houses, since the Negro could not be 
depended upon to keep the house warm, which re- 
sulted in the freezing of the pipes and a large plumb- 
ing bill. Several instances were cited where such 
bills exceed the rent during the winter months. In 
many of the tenement-houses a single hydrant in the 
hall supplied water for all the families in the building. 

Toilet accommodations are also totally inade- 
quate. The present requirements of the sanitary 
ordinances of the city provide that not less than one 
water-closet or privy shall be furnished for every 
twenty persons, while the new building code provides 
that there must be one of these for every fifteen per- 
sons. Little effort has been made to enforce these 
provisions, especially in the old buildings where th 
mass of the Negroes are living. 

In the limited number of houses where toilets are 
provided the arrangement is extremely bad, since 
many of them have no opening on the outside air, 



Our Negro Population. 95 

being located in small rooms adjoining the kitchens 
and opening into the kitchens from the inner wall. 
The effect on the atmosphere and the ventilation of 
the rooms can well be imagined. 

Where the toilets are not provided in the houses 
the privy vault is located in the back yards, and 
since there are alley houses in most of the Negro 
districts, these privies are necessarily very near the 
houses. In one place in "Belvidere" I counted 
eighteen privies in one group that were completely 
surrounded by two- and three-story houses, none of 
which were more than thirty feet away. In many 
other instances they were found closely grouped 
together and often without doors. 

The privy vault is the most evident evil in con- 
nection with our city's housing. Most of these 
privies are built of wood and are placed over holes of 
uncertain depth dug in the ground. In some of the 
Negro residence districts, as there are no sewers, 
back-yard privy vaults are a necessity. Our laws 
provide that no yard privy be built without a permit 
fixing the proper location, kind, and construction; 
these permits are supposed to require the privy to be 
renewed yearly and to be cleaned three times a year. 
On special inquiry concerning the enforcement of 
this law, I found a number of cases where for several 
years families had been using privies that had not 



96 Our Negro Population. 

been cleaned during the entire time. Other instan- 
ces were found where the provisions of the law had 
been complied with, though little effort was evident 
on the part of the city to enforce the law in the 
Negro districts, except when formal complaints 
were made. 

Only a small per cent of the houses in the con- 
gested Negro districts are provided with baths, 
either tub or shower, though the nature of the daily 
work done by both the Negro men and the Negro 
women makes it absolutely necessary for them to 
keep clean, if they are to retain their health and self- 
respect; yet the houses in which they are forced to 
live are not provided with the means. In an inves- 
tigation made by the Board of Public Welfare near 
Garrison Square only two bath-tubs were found in 
827 Negro houses. However, the conditions are not 
so bad in the other sections of the city. Since baths 
are not provided by the Negro in his house, there 
remains no place in the entire city, save the free baths 
in the Allen Chapel African Methodist Church and 
a few Negro barber shops where the Negro can se- 
cure a bath. 

Again, most of the Negro residences are provided 
neither with gas nor with furnaces, and since the 
basements are rented for living purposes, no place is 



Our Negro Population. 97 

provided for storing fuel, and as a result it must be 
purchased in small quantities. 

The question naturally arises, ''Why do these 
Negroes live in such houses and in such environment, 
or why do thev not move into more desirable sections 
01 the city?" As stated before, the habitation oi 
the Negro is restricted to certain districts, where he 
must live under the conditions existing there. Hun- 
dreds of Negroes, however, seem perfectly satisfied, 
not only with their accommodations, but also with 
their station in life. As they were compelled during 
the slavery days to be satisfied and contented with 
any form of habitation provided for them by their 
masters and to be thankful for it, it is not strange 
that the free Negro to-day is wilhng to accept what 
is offered him. Two generations are not sufficient 
to emancipate him from the old life completely, 
especially since the white race spent several genera- 
tions teaching or compelling him to accept without 
question what was placed at his disposal. 

The table above shows that 13 of the 348 families 
occupy one room, 69 two rooms, 181 three rooms, 55 
four rooms, 21 five rooms, and 9 six rooms. Unless 
the location, the condition of the rooms, and the ac- 
commodations offered are understood, one is likely 
to beheve that these districts are not overcrowded. 
An investigation, however, will reveal the fact that 



98 Our Negro Population. 

many of these houses are back-alley houses, base- 
ments, or tenements which are situated in the low, 
unhealthy, and unimproved sections of the city, and 
that many of them are woefully overcrowded. Such 
houses are found in nearly every Negro district in 
the city. They are especially numerous in the 
Negro boarding-house districts. In one instance I 
found fifteen people, of whom eight were children 
under twelve years of age, living in a five -room de- 
tached house. In another instance on "The Bow- 
ery" I found thirty-two people living in a twenty- 
four-room tenement. Numerous similar instances 
might be given. Only those who have carefully 
explored these habitations can begin to conceive of 
the pitiful and tragic results of the close herding to- 
gether of men and women and children, who are not 
only members of families, but boarders, under cir- 
cumstances where modesty cannot be known and 
where vice and immodesty grow out of the noxious 
situation. It is impossible for the traditions to be 
cherished and sentiments and affections to be de- 
veloped in the home and family under such condi- 
tions and in such an atmosphere. 

It is not possible to specify as to all the numerous 
safeguards which a housing code ought to provide. 
All rooms, however, should be provided with open- 
ings to the outside air, and in case of dark or inside 



Our Nitgro Population. 99 

rooms now existing, provision should be made to 
have windows cut to provide Ught and ventilation. 
Each room should contain at least 150 square feet of 
floor area and should have window area totaling one- 
eighth of the floor area of the room. To avoid over- 
crowding, express provision should be made that a 
minimum of 600 cubic feet per individual should be 
allowed. These houses should also have cellars, city 
water, and modern toilet facilities. 

These advantages will be much easier to secure 
now than ten years or even five years hence. On 
account of existing laws and inadequate enforcement 
of those now existing, conditions are growing worse 
every day. A housing law, to be effective, must be 
enforced, not only on complaint, but at all times. 
The tenants generally do not know to what con- 
veniences they are entitled. They frequently vio- 
late provisions of a housing code without knowing 
that their acts constitute a violation. Provision 
should be made for systematic inspection on the ini- 
tiative of a single department of city government, 
so that the responsibility for the same may be placed 
and that a determinate system may be formulated 
and carried out. Good housing laws without ade- 
quate provision for persistent and energetic enforce- 
ment of the standard would fail. 



loo Our Negro Population. 

And now what do those who rent pay for their 
wretched accommodations? The figures tabulated 
above include only 348 families, which are, however, 
taken from representative families and districts, and 
which therefore can be counted upon as fairly ac- 
curate data. Ivittle difficulty was encountered in 
ascertaining the separate rental of the living quarters 
of the families visited. 

The figures given in the table indicate that the 
average Negro family occupying one room pays 
$4.27 per month; two rooms, $5.50; three rooms, 
$7.95; four rooms, $12.27; ^^e rooms, $14.28; and 
six rooms, $18.16. These figures further show that 
each of the 348 families pays on an average $8.65 
per month for rent, making a total of $3,010.20 per 
month and $36,122.40 per year for the entire group. 
Again, from these figures, knowing the total number 
of Negro families in the city, we are able to secure 
the amount expended for rent by all the Negroes of 
Kansas City, Missouri — namely, $900,320. 

The question naturally arises, whether or not a 
large proportion of the poorer classes of these sections 
who must live in rented property are paying too 
much rent for the advantages they receive, and 
whether or not the amount paid is out of proportion 
with the investment involved. This is a very dif- 
ficult question to answer. It is probable that the 



Our Negro Population. ioi 

average Negro laborer pays too high rent for the 
wages he secures, though the per cent of income ex- 
pended for rent by all the Negro renters of Kansas 
City is only $21.27, which is a little less than 2 per 
cent more than the amount estimated as a just per 
cent of the poor man's income to be used for this 
purpose. As a rule, the investor cares but little 
about the comfort and convenience of his proper- 
ties, except as they return to him a greater income, 
because he does not live there, and his every effort is 
to increase their money-making power. The house 
built for investment will be usually built as cheaply 
as possible to conserve this income. 

I talked with a number of white men who owned 
residence property in the Negro locaHties and they 
all spoke of the Negro as being a good tenant, espe- 
cially of apartments. They said that the Negro paid 
better than any other class — a condition which they 
attributed to the fact that he had been taught that 
he must pay his rent or move out at once. Again, 
since the Negro districts are so limited, they had no 
difficulty in keeping their houses full all the time at 
even a higher rent than they could possibly ob- 
tain from whitep tenants. Several apartment-houses 
were found which had been built for and rented to 
white tenants; they were only about half occupied 
most of the time. This vicinity became rather un- 



I02 Our Negro Population. 

desirable for white people as a result of the increase 
of Negro houses in that immediate neighborhood. 
The apartments were then changed into Negro 
apartments, and the rent raised $5 per month. No 
difficulty was encountered in keeping every room 
rented all the time. 

I investigated the housing conditions and the 
rent questions in several residences and apartments 
owned by some wealthy Negroes, and was much in- 
terested in finding the conditions and the rent 
charged the same as in the adjoining houses, which 
were owned by whites. 

Mr. H. O. Cook, of the Lincoln High School, 
working under the direction of the Department of 
House Inspection during the months of July and 
August. 1 91 2. made a thorough investigation of the 
housing conditions in the district from Tracy to 
Euclid Avenues and from Eighteenth Street to the 
Belt Line, as well as on a part of Seventeenth Street 
between Woodland and Euclid Avenues. In his 
report to Mr. L. A. Halbert. superintendent of the 
Board of Public Welfare, he says in part: 

"In all, the work covered 2S2 single houses and 59 
apartments or tenements containing 2,465 rooms, of which 
334 were without sufficient sunlight and S43 without suf- 
ficient ventilation. Of the total number, 1,251 were 
sleeping-rooms (more than 50 per cent), of which 173, or 
14 per cent, had less than 400 cubic feet of space for each 



Our Negro Population. 103 

occupant. This becomes serious when we take into ac- 
count the unwillingness of many of those who live in such 
an unsanitary and congested neighborhood to give correct 
returns of all those who sleep under their roof. Of the 
total number of houses, 151 had city water in the yard and 
126 had water in the house, leaving 64, or 18.7 per cent, 
without, except in a few cases where an old well or cistern 
furnished a limited and dangerous supply. 

"There were 212 privy vaults, none of which had any 
water connection, and 52 of which had no sewer connection 
whatever; these latter, even with attention, cannot be 
anything but a menace to the health and comfort of the 
surrounding tenants. 

"The question of cleanliness is so near to morality 
that I wish to call especial attention to the lack of washing 
and bathing facilities. There are 267 sinks in the district, 
nearly half of the families being without, and but 99 bath- 
tubs — I tub to every 22 persons; but when you take into 
account that most of the apartments have a sink and bath 
for each apartment, you may readily see that the great 
majority of the 2,192 persons have neither. 

"Two notable examples of this condition can be seen 
in the Hadley Flats at Nineteenth and Woodland and the 
Taft Flats on Nineteenth near Euclid. The former has 
48 rooms, with a rear apartment of 20 rooms, and the latter 
36 rooms, with a rear apartment of 10 rooms, all divided 
into two-room suites, with neither sink nor bath for more 
than 150 persons. The conscience of some owners ought 
to be aroused, if the city will not compel them to give these 
tenants a chance to be clean as well as to enrich some 
owner. These conditions are duplicated on Lydia Avenue 
near the Belt Line and at 1913-1 5-17 -19 East Nineteenth 
vStreet." 

The word poverty, as generally defined and em- 
ployed in sociological writings at the present time, 
means that economic and social state in which per- 




> 5 



Q ^ 

o I 

o 



Our Negro Population. 105 

sons have not sufficient income to maintain health 
and physical efficiency. All who do not receive a 
sufficient income to maintain the minimum standard 
of living necessary for efficiency are known as the 
poor. Pauperism, on the other hand, is the state of 
legal dependence in which a person who is unable or 
unwilling to support himself receives relief from 
public sources.* The word, however, is popularly 
used to mean a degraded state of willing dependence. 

A review of the tables on incomes, expenditures, 
and the housing conditions leads us to a realization 
of the fact that under the existing conditions there 
must necessarily be a large number of the poor and 
paupers among the Negroes of Kansas City. Among 
the leading causes of poverty may be mentioned 
unemployment, widowhood and desertion, sickness 
and accident, and old age. 

The Board of Public Welfare has, ever since its 
organization, recognized that cases of destitution 
must receive relief, and it helps private charitable 
institutions in many ways to give this relief as ef- 
fectively as possible ; but primarily it believes in at- 
tacking the causes of poverty by doing what it can 
to insure justice and to make the people self-sus- 
taining. The real relief- work of the Board is done 
through the numerous affiliated charities in the 

*Ellwood, "Sociology," p. 242. 



io6 Our Negro Population. 

city. However, only a limited number of them, of 
which the Provident Association is the most promi- 
nent, give regular assistance to Negroes. Only one- 
fifteenth of the institutional charities of the city 
goes to the Negro, who constitutes 9.7 per cent of 
the total population and a much greater per cent 
of the poverty. 

The Provident Association does not make any 
race distinction. For twelve years the Negroes rep- 
resented 35 per cent of those to whom it rendered 
assistance. The last three years, however, through 
more and better facilities for doing reconstruction 
work among the Negroas, it has been able to lower 
this per cent to 17 per cent. Very little work of this 
nature has been done, while no greater work could 
be undertaken by the charitable societies of the city. 

The social workers say that no class of people 
with whom they have to deal is so shiftless, indolent, 
and lazy as the Negro; that he has very little self- 
pride, and hence will lie and misrepresent the facts 
in order to get any assistance whatever. 

The better class of Negroes have thus far taken 
little interest in caring for the poor of their own race. 
I have been told that only two Negro doctors of the 
city will give free medical aid to the Negro charitable 
societies. As a result of this lack of interest and co- 



Our Negro Population. 107 

operation, only two or three such societies, with ac- 
commodations for not more than fifty people, exist 
in the city, and these are supported partly by the 
white people. 



CHAPTER VI, 



Health and Morals. 

The report of the Census Department on mor- 
tahty statistics of 1909 (registration area) contained 
the following table of percentage of deaths per i ,000 
of population in cities of the United vStates with over 
100,000 population: 



Av. 

per 

Cent 


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Our Negro Population. 



1 09 



This table indicates a low death-rate for the av- 
erage Northern city and a high death-rate for the 
average Southern city, with Kansas City numeri- 
cally and geographically about half way between 
them. Some writers attribute this fact to the cH- 
matic conditions, while others say that it is the 
result of the unusually large death-rate of the Negro 
population of the Southern cities. 

The vital statistics of Southern cities show that 
the Negro death-rate is very much higher than the 
white death-rate. In ten Southern cities, for ex- 
ample, Hoffman gives the average death-rate as 20 
per 1,000 for the white population and as 32.6 per 
1,000 for the Negro population. These same cities 
m 1 90 1 to 1905 showed an annual average death- 
rate for the whites of 17.5 and for the Negroes of 
28.4.* An examination of the vital statistics of the 
Northern cities gives approximately the same ratio 
between the two races, though the Negro is not so 
numerous, hence his high death-rate does not ma- 
terially lower the general average. These vital sta- 
tistics further show that the death-rate among the 
whites is also slightly higher in the Southern cities 
than in the Northern cities. 



♦Ellwood, "Sociology," p. 210. 



lO 



Our Negro Population. 



The following table shows the death-rate for 
certain causes by races in Kansas City for 191 2. 
The figures given represent the rate per 1,000 
population. 



Causes of Death According to Races in Kansas City, 
Missouri. 



1912. 



Causes. 



Kansas City. 


White. 


Col. 


•99 


1.22 


•05 


.05 


•94 


i^55 


.69 


1.40 


2.25 


■ 3-88 


.39 


.16 


I . II 


3-50 


.04 


.... 


. 12 


.22 


1.23 


6.70 


1. 17 


2.50* 



Cancer and Tumor 

Diphtheria 

Diarrhoeal Diseases 

Heart Diseases and Dropsy . 
Nervous System, Diseases of. 

Old Age 

Pneumonia 

Scarlet Fever 

Typhoid Fever 

Tuberculosis 

Urinary Organs, Diseases of . 



The following table gives the causes of deaths for 
a number of diseases according to races for the first 
nine months of 191 2 : 



* The data given in this and the following tables in this chap- 
ter were secured from the Health Department of Kansas City. 





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5 12^ 



112 Our Negro Population. 

The total number of deaths from all causes 
during the months given above is as follows : 

January. 

White 307 

Colored 68 

Total 375 

February. 

White 324 

Colored 67 

Total 391 

March. 

White 354 

Colored : 89 

Total 443 

April. 

White 376 

Colored loi 

Total 477 

May. 

White 278 

Colored 54 

Total 332 

June. 

White 226 

Colored 67 

Total 293 



Our Negro Population. 113 

July. 

White 309 

Colored 59 

Total 368 

August. 

White. . . 261 

Colored 47 

Total 308 

September. 

White 270 

Colored 57 

Total 327 

The largest number of deaths in Kansas City for 
any month in 191 2 was 477 in April, while June, with 
only 293 deaths, was the month of lowest mortal- 
ity. The average number of deaths per month for 
both races taken together was 362.2, which gives 
a total of 4,418 deaths for the entire year. Taking 
the regular rate of increase of population for the 
past ten years as 8,000, we secure a total population 
of 264,000 for 191 2. Now, from these figures we are 
able to secure the annual death-rate for the entire 
city as 16.7 per 1,000 population. 

The average number of white deaths per month 
for IQ12 was 300.5, which gives a total of 3,606 for 
the entire year. Estimating the population for both 
races on the basis given above, we get a white popu- 



114 Our Negro Population. 

lation of 238,000 and a colored population of 26,000. 
From the total population and the total number of 
deaths for 191 2 we secure the regular death-rate for 
the year as 15.5 for the whites and 31.2 for the 
colored per 1,000 population. 

This exceedingly high death-rate for the Kansas 
City Negro is indeed appalling, especially when we 
realize that the death-rate for the entire United 
States, including all races, was only 16.1 for 1906, 
16.4 for 1907, and 15.3 for 1908. However, it is 
evident from the facts given above that these figures, 
though very high, are not out of proportion to those 
given for the Negro in other large cities of our 
country. 

When these mortality statistics are analyzed, 
moreover — while they show that Negro mortality 
at all ages is greater than white mortality — it is seen 
that the regular number of deaths is greatest among 
Negro children under fourteen years of age; this, of 
course, is largely because of the ignorant manner in 
which Negroes care for these children. Again, since 
nearly half of the Negro women are compelled to 
work for a living, the children are necessarily 
neglected. 

The most noticeable feature of the mortality 
tables given in this chapter is the tremendously high 
death-rate for the Negroes shown for the more or 



Our Negro Population. 115 

less constitutional diseases, such as tuberculosis, 
pneumonia, diseases of the nervous system and heart, 
and diseases of the urinary organs. These figures, 
together with other evidence furnished by the 
United States Census, seem to show that the Negro 
has much less power of resistance in the struggle for 
life than has the Caucasian. This fact holds true in 
all sections of our country. 

The table above, giving the causes of death ac- 
cording to races in Kansas City, shows that 9 out of 
1 1 of the most common diseases claim a higher per- 
centage of Negroes than of whites; of these 9 dis- 
eases, tuberculosis is by far the most fatal. It col- 
lects as tribute in Kansas City annually 6.2 Negroes 
out of every 1,000 of their population, while the 
claim upon the white race is only i.i per 1,000; this 
means that the death-rate in Kansas City from tu- 
berculosis is more than five times as great for Negroes 
as for whites. Pneumonia makes the second great- 
est claim upon him, with a ratio of more than 3 to i . 

It would be a difficult task indeed to undertake 
to explain fully these facts; however, a few condi- 
tions may be named, which may tend greatly to 
increase the death-rate, not only of these two dis- 
eases, but of all diseases. First, there are the un- 
sanitary conditions of the houses in which they live, 
such as old dilapidated frame buildings without 



ii6 Our Negro Population. 

water, toilets, heat, or sufficient ventilation. These 
conditions could be greatly improved by a strict en- 
forcement of the laws already on our statute-books. 
Second, there is the unsanitary condition of the 
streets and alleys in the Negro residence districts, 
which is due to a large extent to the negligence and 
lack of interest on the part of the city in the general 
welfare of the Negro. Third, we see the ignorance 
and the carelessness of the Negro in supplying the 
needs of his physical being, such as good, wholesome 
food, sufficient clothing, etc. Hundreds of Negro 
men and women go through the entire winter with 
neither overcoats nor overshoes, and some even 
without underwear. Fourth, the nature of the 
Negro's work makes it necessary for him to undergo 
frequent exposures, since much of his work is out of 
doors. lyastly, certain traits and tendencies have 
been emphasized by generations of vicious practices ; 
and to-day bad whiskey, cocaine, and sexual im- 
morality continue the sad work of debilitation. 
There were 71 Negro deaths in Kansas City during 
191 2 due to diseases of the urinary organs, which 
were results, directly or indirectly, of the evils just 
named. These figures represent 8.8 per cent of the 
total number of deaths in Kansas City for 191 2. 

Whether or not the ravages of disease can be 
stopped at this late day is an open question; how- 



Our Nf.cro Population. 117 

ever, if the excessive mortality lies merely in the 
conditions of Hfe and not in race traits and ten- 
dencies, the question can and will be solved; but be- 
fore these conditions can be successfully met the 
white race and the Negro race must come to a better 
understanding and appreciation of each other. The 
interests of the two races are very closely associated, 
and neither race seems to realize this fact. Yet, the 
health and prosperity of one race depends upon the 
health and prosperity of the other to a very large 
extent. We are putting forth every eflfort to raise 
to our standard the foreign element of our popu- 
lation while we are doing practically nothing for 
the Negro, with whom we are much more closely 
associated. There are probably 800 Negro women 
either afflicted with tuberculosis or having the dis- 
ease in their immediate families who daily leave 
these consumptive homes and enter our homes to 
cook our food, wash and iron our clothing, and sweep 
and clean our houses. Therefore, should we not 
strive to free the Negro from these deadly diseases, 
if for no other reason than to save the members of 
our own families? And if, as it is often claimed, the 
Negro will not or can not adopt our standards, then 
it is our duty to compel him to live up to such a 
standard as we may deem necessary to insure the 
integrity of our own standard. 



ii8 



Our Negro Population. 



It is usually assumed that the birth-rate among 
Negroes is in excess of that among the whites ; how- 
ever, this statement cannot always be borne out by 
the figures. Where statistics have been gathered in 
the Northern cities they have usually revealed a 
very low Negro birth-rate.* The figures given in 
the following table, showing the number of births 
according to races in Kansas City, Missouri, for the 
first ten months of 191 2, are in harmony with the 
statement above: 

Births in Kansas City According to Sex 
AND Race, 19 1 2. 



912. 



January. . 
February . 
March . . . , 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August. . . 
September 
October. . 



M. 


F. 


Total. 


M. 


F. 


Total. 


223 


208 


431 


21 


19 


40 


217 


198 


415 


14 


17 


31 


172 


195 


367 


16 


8 


24 


190 


172 


362 


II 


12 


23 


177 


162 


339 


15 


18 


33 


177 


181 


358 


22 


II 


33 


242 


197 


439 


12 


18 


30 


249 


216 


465 


18 


12 


30 


229 


213 


442 


12 


II 


23 


255 


219 


474 


16 


18 


34 



Colored. 



An examination of the figures given in this table 
shows that there was an average of 409 white children 

* Hoffman, "Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Ne- 
gro," Chapter II. 



Our Negro Population. 



119 



born each month or 4,908 during the entire year of 
191 2. This table also shows that there was an av- 
erage of only 30 Negro children born each month, 
or a total of 360 for the entire year. These figures 
give us a total of 5,268 births for 1912. Now, from 
this data, together with the total population of the 
city, we are able to secure the birth-rate as 19.9 per 
1,000 of population, while the birth-rate according 
to races was 20.6 per 1,000 of the white population 
and 13.8 per 1,000 of the colored population. 

Comparing the number of deaths and of births 
in each race according to their respective population, 
we secure the following percentage: 

Death- and Birth- Rate in Kansas City by Races 

FOR 191 2. 



I912. 



January. . . 
February. . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August .... 
September . 
Entire Year 



Death- Rate per 
1,000 Pop. 



W. 



55 
32 
48 
58 
12 

95 
29 
09 
13 
50 



C. 



2 .61 
2.60 
342 



3 
2 
2 
2 
I 
2 
31 



88 
08 
59 
27 
80 

19 
20 



Birth-Rate per 
1,000 Pop. 



W. 



81 
75 
54 
52 
42 
50 
85 
95 
79 
60 



1-53 
1. 19 

•92 

.88 

1.27 

1.27 

1 . 1 1 

I . II 

.88 

13.80 



I20 Our Negro Population. 

A number of important conclusions may be 
drawn from the vital and population statistics given 
above, which are well worth emphasizing. 

The native Negro population of Kansas City not 
only is not increasing so fast as the white, owing 
largely to its high death-rate, but is actually de- 
creasing. The records of the Health Department 
for 191 2, which are given above, show 811 Negro 
deaths with only 361 births — in other words, the 
Negro deaths during 1 9 1 2 exceeded the Negro births 
by 450, while the white births exceeded the white 
deaths by 1,204. 'I'he fact that the Negro popula- 
tion is actually increasing is due to the large immi- 
gration to Kansas City from other sections of our 
country. 

Dr. Wm. J. Thompkins, one of the leading Negro 
doctors in the West, who has charge of the Colored 
Department of Child Hygiene for the Health De- 
partment of Kansas City, in his report to the Health 
Commissioner, Dr. W. S. Wheeler, in 191 1, says in 
part: "With the assistance of a nurse, I canvassed 
the area between Twenty-seventh Street and Third 
Street and Cherry Street to Brooklyn Avenue, which 
takes in the Black Belt of the metropolis. I found 
the families to be small, but the large per cent of the 
mothers nursing their own babies. * * * The 
most alarming thing was to find a hundred couples 




THE PERRY SANITARIUM 

IHiThe Perry Sanitarium is located at 1214 Vine Street 
founded in 1910 by Dr. J. Edward Perr 



with 



The institution was 
the object of providing open-door 



hospital service for his own patients and for those of the many other Negro phy 
sicians practicing in Kansas City and the surrounding territory. This institution 
is the only one of its kind in this section of the country. About 100 operations 
are performed there annually. 

Only a few of the hospitals of Kansas City admit Negro patients, and when 
admitted the number is limited and the accommodations very unsatisfactory. 



122 Our Negro Population. 

who were good-livers that have been married from 
one to four years without babies, showing a racial 
suicide or racial sterility. ' ' This same condition 
was noted in my house visitation, where 92 Negro 
families out of 348 were found without children. 

The high death-rate among the Negroes indicates 
that a rapid process of elimination of those who 
can not adapt themselves to their environment is 
going on among them. This selective process will 
tend toward the survival of the more fit elements 
among the Negroes, and therefore towards bringing 
the Negro up to the standard of the whites. We 
can easily see the evidence of the working of this 
process in the misery and the vice that are so preva- 
lent among the American Negroes of to-day. It is 
the duty of the white race, by education and other 
means, to help the Negro in this great struggle, so 
that we may lessen the miseries and brutality of the 
natural process of eliminating the unfit. 

A great deal has been said and written con- 
cerning the immorality of the Negro race, though no 
great amount of statistics has been gathered to prove 
this assumption. The conclusions have been drawn 
almost entirely from the court records, which, while 
dealing with only one phase of the question, serve as 
a fair index to the real moral condition of the race, 
because the conditions and influences of the home 



Our Negro Population. 123 

are certain to follow them through life and, to a 
large extent, to guide and direct their activities. 

As a slave, the Negro was sadly deficient morally. 
The chastity of the female slave was never esteemed 
of much account, since it was an impediment to her 
master's wealth. Slave girls, however young, were 
not valued lower for having become mothers without 
waiting to be wives, nor were many masters likely to 
rebuke this as a fault or brand it as a shame. The 
sacredness of the home was not and could not be 
understood by the Negro slave. 

As a result of the abolition of slavery the Negro 
was turned loose in the world, a free man, but 
without money, without education or training, and 
with a strong race prejudice against him. As a re- 
sult of this prejudice, he is compelled to follow cer- 
tain lines of work which throw him into daily con- 
tact with the very worst element of our own popu- 
lation. Then, too, we have done practically nothing 
to raise his moral standard, enforcing upon him with 
a great deal of vigor every law save the moral law; 
and as a result of this lack of interest and lack of en- 
forcement of the moral laws upon the Negro, we find 
hundreds of Negro men and women living together 
under the common law of marriage. Divorces and 
breach of promise suits are practically unknown 
among the Negroes of Kansas City. We demand of 



124 Our Negro Population. 

them the attainment of no moral standard; hence 
they can see no necessity for going to the expense 
and trouble of securing either a marriage license or a 
divorce decree. They move about from place to 
place, living with first this one and then that one — 
no excuse, explanation, or secret being made of it; 
nor is this practice confined to the lower class of 
Negroes only. I was informed by several different 
people that certain Negro teachers in our public 
schools were living with men under the common- 
law marriage. The relations existing between the 
sexes among all classes of Negroes are exceedingly 
lax, though there are hundreds of Negro men and 
women against whom this charge can not be brought. 
Mr. H. O. Cook, in his report to the Board of 
Public Welfare on "Housing Conditions" referred 
to above, says: 

"Of 649 families, 209, or more than 32 per cent, are 
separated. Few of these are divorced, and, though one 
cannot be exact, fully 50 per cent of these have con- 
tracted other alliances with which the law and the senti- 
ment of the neighborhood are not concerned. It can be 
readily seen what an unwholesome influence this must 
have upon the 423 children of the district, many of whom 
must grow up with no idea of a pure home life." 

These conditions must be remedied before the 
Negro can materially advance, because without the 
sacred home and its influences a strong character 



Our Negro Population. 125 

cannot be developed. Therefore, if we desire to 
make of the Negro a good law-abiding citizen, we 
must go back to the original institution — the home — 
and reconstruct it so that we shall have good true 
husbands and wives and mothers and fathers, and 
then, and not until then, will crime and the ravages 
of disease as a natural result be checked. 



126 Our Negro Population. 



CHAPTER VII 



Crime. 



A law, as usually defined, is a rule of action es- 
tablished by recognized authority to enforce justice 
and prescribe duty or obligation. It is also one 
aspect or phase of social life — namely, that which 
has to do with the control of conduct through organ- 
ized social authority. Crime, as ususally defined, is 
a violation of law, hence it is primarily a legal matter. 
However, it is also a social matter, being an expres- 
sion of social maladjustment. This lack of adapta- 
tion is very often caused by certain psychological 
and biological conditions of the individual. 

According to this classification, there are three 
main groups of criminals : ( i ) There is the instinct- 
ive or born criminal, who, being somewhat defective 
mentally, is not capable of distinguishing between 
right and wrong. This class is small, constituting 
not more than 15 per cent of our prison population. 
(2) The habitual criminal is often a normal person, 
who has acquired the tendency to crime from his 
environment; this class embraces many who are 
above the average in ability and who deliberately 



Our Negro Population. 127 

choose a life of crime. He is the most dangerous 
criminal with whom we have to deal. Another type 
of the habitual criminal is the weak person, who 
drifts into crime through temptation, because he 
lacks sufficient strength of character to throw off 
the evil. It is estimated that both types of the hab- 
itual criminal constitute from 40 to 50 per cent of 
our prison population. (3) The single offender is 
the criminal who commits only a single crime 
through some sudden stress or temptation; there are 
also two types of this class— namely, the criminal 
by passion and the accidental criminal. Strictly 
speaking, the single criminals are only legal crimin- 
als, and not criminals in the sociological sense, be- 
ing relatively moral and law-abiding citizens whose 
variation from the normal is confined to some 
single offense.* 

Now, if criminals differ according to this classifi- 
cation, it is necessary for us to make a detailed study 
of each individual in each group, in order that we 
may intelligently apply the proper method of treat- 
ment. Heretofore criminals have usually been 
grouped together as law-breakers and treated ac- 
cordingly. 

One of the most important features of the Negro 
problem in the United States is the strong tendency 
*E;ilwood, "Sociology," pp. 270-71. 



28 



Our Negro Population. 



among the race toward crime. Statistics show that 
the Negro is ever)rwhere more criminal than the 
white man, and that his tendency towards crime in- 
creases as we go North — doubtless largely because 
in the North he is in a strange and more complex 
environment, and finds greater difficulty in making 
social adjustments. 

It is my purpose in this chapter to make a de- 
tailed study of crime according to races in Kan- 
sas City, Missouri, analyzing the peculiar conditions 
under which these crimes are committed, and as 
nearly as possible tracing out their relations 

In the annual report of the Chief of Police to the 
Board of Police Commissioners for the fiscal year 
191 1 the following list of cities was submitted, show- 
ing their population, area, size of force, and total 
number of arrests: 



City. 



Popula- 
tion. 



Area, 




Sq. 


Force. 


Miles. 




59 


502 


62 


1,835 


40 


686 


191 


4,206 


25 


128 


53 


339 


54 


248 


23 


506 


54 


273 



Yearly 
Arrests. 



Kansas City, Mo. . 

St. Louis, Mo 

Detroit, Mich 

Chicago, 111 

Omaha, Neb 

Minneapolis, Minn 

Denver, Colo 

Milwaukee, Wis . . . 



248,381 
687,029 
465,766 
2,785,283 
124,096 
301,408 
213,381 
373,857 



St. Paul, Minn 214,744 



31,450 
37,102 

17,875 
81,269 
11,167 

12,794 

12,578 

8,827 

6,154 



Our Negro Population. 129 

The number of arrests made in the cities named 
above, per 1,000 of their respective populations, 
gives the following results: Kansas City, 126; St. 
Louis, 54.0; Detroit, 38.4; Chicago, 29.2; Omaha, 
90.0; Minneapolis, 42.5; Denver, 48.4; Milwaukee, 
23.4; and St. Paul, 28.8. 

It is evident from these figures that the conditions 
or the causes producing crime are indeed numerous 
in and around Kansas City, Missouri, when com- 
pared with the other great cities of the middle part 
of the country. 

Mr. Wentworth E. Griffin, the Chief of PoHce 
for Kansas City, Missouri, reviews this situation as 
follows : 

"By reason of location and environment, Kansas 
City, Missouri, is confronted in its pohce work with con- 
ditions which have no parallel in any other inland city. 
Being the gateway for the entire West and Southwest, as 
evidenced by its size as a railway center, transient people 
in large numbers and for various causes are drawn here: 
a constant tide of emigration is passing through, and the 
criminal class comes with the throng. 

"Furthermore, Kansas City, Missouri, is the trade- 
center not only for the residents of rural districts of vast 
extent, but for many near-by cities and towns with popu- 
lation ranging in number from a few hundred to many 
thousands. The fact that Kansas City, Kansas, sep- 
arated from Kansas City, Missouri, only by the State 
Line, is located in a prohibition State, and a number of 
counties in Missouri contiguous to Kansas City are 'dry,' 
accounts for the daily advent here of still another class, 
whose mission adds to the volume of police work." 



I30 



Our Negro Population. 



These conditions certainly tend to draw to our 
city a large criminal class ; however, there are other 
and more important causes, especially in the case of 
the Negro, which are daily producing a criminal ele- 
ment in our population. These causes will be dis- 
cussed at length in a succeeding paragraph. 

The following table, which shows the number of 
arrests made by the Kansas City police force in 
State cases during 191 1 according to offenses, race, 
and sex, will give a fair idea of the nature of the 
criminals and the degree of the crimes committed: 

Arrksts Made in State; Cases in Kansas City, 
Missouri, 1911. 



Offense. 



Assault, to kill 

Assault, criminal . . . 
Assault, common . . . 

Adultery 

Burglary 

Concealed weapons . 

Embezzlement 

Forgery 

Fugitive from justice 
Highway robbery . . . 

Ivarceny, petit 

Larceny, grand 

Murder 

Robbery 

Rape 

Miscellaneous 

Total 



Total, 



Female. 



67 
42 

57 

13 

199 

156 

59 
70 

332 

75 

318 

151 
42 

23 

14 

1,488 

2,411 



W. 



c. 



4 
2 
o 
6 

4 
I 

4 

36 
o 
8 

10 

I 

o 

40 

18 



3 
2 
I 
o 
2 
o 
o 
o 
8 
2 
5 
7 
5 
o 
o 
21 
56 



Male. 



W. 



38 

23 

34 

7 

119 

131 
49 
69 

210 

59 

210 

92 

10 

13 
10 

731 
,675 



22 

15 

22 

o 

o 

24 

6 

o 

78 

14 

95 

42 

26 

9 

4 

131 

562 



Our Negro Population. 131 

From these figures we see that 1,793 whites and 
618 Negroes were arrested in Kansas City during 
191 1 for violating State laws. In other words, the 
Negro people of Kansas City, who constitute less 
than one-tenth of our total population, furnished 
more than one-fourth of the arrests for crimes against 
the State. It is also interesting to note the serious 
nature of the crimes most common among them. 
The figures show that 31 out of 42, or 74 per cent, of 
the arrests for murder were against Negro men and 
women; 5 of these 42 arrests were made against 
Negro women. About 38 per cent of the arrests for 
assaults, criminal and to kill, and for burglary, were 
against the colored race, while the per cent for grand 
and petit larceny is more than 32. 

This table further shows that 32.1 per cent of 
the crimes committed by women, as measured by 
the number of arrests, were by Negroes, while only 
25.1 per cent of those committed by men were by 
colored persons, which indicates that the criminal 
tendency of the Negro women and men is greater 
than that of the white women and men. 

The report of the reformatory for women for the 
year ending April 15, 191 1, is indeed encouraging; 
it is in part as follows : 

"A comparison of this year's statistics of women 
prisoners with last year's shows some interesting facts. 
The total number of women received last year was 606 as 



132 



Our Negro Population. 



against 494 this year, making a decrease of 112. A fur- 
ther analysis of these figures according to the color of the 
inmates shows the striking fact that the number of col- 
ored women decreased 162, while the number of white 
women increased 50. The only changed conditions that 
we know of that would seem to account for this situation 
is the fact that all Negro bawdy-houses were closed early 
in the year covered by these figures, and on the other hand, 
the white women were committed a little more freely by 
the judges after the separate reformatory for women was 
established." 

The following table gives the number of arrests 
made in city cases during 191 1 according to race, 
sex, and offense : 

Arrests Made in City Cases During 191 i. 



Offense. 



Total. 



Bawdy-house keeper. . . . 
Bawdy-house inmate . . . 
Bawdy-house frequenter 
Begging upon streets . . . 
Disturbing the peace . . . 
Drunk upon the street . . 
Gambling-house keeper . 
Gam. -house frequenter. . 
Liquor-selling, illegal . . . 

Non-support 

Night- wandering 

Playing dice 

Smoking opium 

Vagrancy 

Miscellaneous 



957 

471 

801 

48 

5,580 

7,089 

139 

1055 

449 

357 

351 

59 

44 

3,580 

8,059 



Female. 



Male. 



W. 



W. 



C. 



Total . . . ! 29,039 2,886 1,126 20,94 



834 

346 

o 

I 
284 

299 

o 

6 

22 

o 

227 
o 

7 
382 

448 



44 

125 

o 

2 

259 

102 

I 

6 
28 
o 
124 
o 
5 

199 



59 
o 

589 

43 

3,943 

6,369 

lOI 

614 

340 

303 

o 

30 

17 

2,201 

6,332 



20 
o 

212 

2 

,094 

319 

37 

429 

59 

54 

o 

29 

15 

656 

,060 



3,986 



Our Negro Population. 133 

This table shows that there were 29,039 arrests 
in city cases during 191 1, of which 14,199 were white 
and 3,234 were colored. These figures give a per- 
centage of 82.5 for the whites and 17.9 for the 
colored. 

Under the division "Miscellaneous" are grouped 
a number of offenses which are not really criminal, 
such as having no automobile license, investigation 
held by chief, having no dog muzzle, no occupation 
license, and no dog tax, violating rules of the road, 
and so forth. 

Most of the criminal offenses are grouped under 
the headings, "Disturbing the Peace," "Drunken- 
ness," "Gambling," " Frequenting Gambling-Dens, " 
and "Vagrancy"; 17,443 crimes are placed under 
these five classes of offenses, of which 3,234, or 18.5 
per cent, are by Negroes. 

The criminal tendency of Negro women, when 
compared with that of either white women or Negro 
men, is even more evident in city than in State ar- 
rests; this fact is especially emphasized by the 
figures given in the table above, which shows that 
the number of female Negro arrests for disturbing 
the peace, drunkenness, and vagrancy^ is nearly 
equal to the number of female white arrests,. though 
there are less than one-tenth as many Negro women 
as white women. 



134 



Our Negro Population. 



There can be no doubt whatever that the alert- 
ness, efficiency, and conscientious performance of 
duty of the average poHceman is everywhere some- 
what increased when the offender chances to be a 
Negro; his conviction is also much more certain. 
This is due, in part, to the inabihty of the Negro to 
secure the necessary legal assistance and in part ' ' to 
the sangfroid with which the average white judge 
and jury convict the Negro brought before them." 

The criminal statistics given above have been 
based upon the arrests and not on convictions, since 
complete data for all the offenses are not available. 
However, we have a detailed report of the Municipal 
Farm for the year ending April 15, 191 1, which rep- 
resents the commitments for criminal offenses in city 
cases. The report is as follows: 

Prisoners Received by Months. 



Month. 



April 15-30, 191 1 • 

May, 1 911 

June 

July 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

January 

February 

March 

April 1-15, inclusive 



W. Men. 


C. Men. 


94 




196 




238 


71 


189 


100 


136 


71 


170 


45 


161 


70 


133 


52 


157 


62 


135 


56 


159 


50 


126 


49 


62 


26 


1,956 


652 



94 
196 

309 
289 
207 

215 
231 

185 
219 
191 
209 

175 
88 

2,608 



Our Negro Population. 



135 



How Returned. 



Paroled 

Fines paid 

Expired 

Deaths 

Escaped 

Appealed 

To City Hospital 
To Asylum 




Black. 

503 
26 



I 

24 
22 

9 
o 



"If we take into account the 91 colored prisoners re- 
ceived at the old Work-house on Vine Street, who were 
discharged from there before the balance of the men were 
transferred to the Farm, we find that a total of 2,699 male 
prisoners were received during the year, which is a de- 
crease of 288 from last year. It is interesting to note 
that the number of Negroes received decreased 247. Al- 
though Negroes only constituted i-jyi per cent of the 
total number received, that race is credited with 85.5 per 
cent of the total decrease for the year. It is further in- 
teresting to note that the first report issued by the Board 
showed that 38 per cent of the prison population were 
Negroes, the second showed that :sZ per cent were Negroes, 
and now this report shows that only 27.5 per cent of the 
men received this year were Negroes." 

The juvenile arrests by the police, which include 

persons under twenty years of age, for the year 

ending April 15, 191 2, were as follows: 

White males arrested 1,332 

White females arrested 381 

Black males arrested 480 

Black females arrested 198 



Total 2,39] 



36 



Our Negro Population. 



From these figures we see that the number of 
Negro juvenile arrests is 28.3 per cent of the total. 
These figures are indeed alarming, especially since 
they indicate a very strong criminal tendency among 
the young Negroes. 

Kansas City has very poor facilities for caring 
for Negro juvenile criminals, and this accounts to 
some extent for their large number. 

The following table shows the disposal of the 
juvenile cases for the past four years. The figures 
given represent the convictions and not the arrests. 
Disposal of the Juvenile Cases. 









Dis- 










Sent 


Sent 


charged 










to 


to 


First 


Par 


Total. 


Per 




Coun- 


Insti- 


Hear - 


oled. 




Cent. 




try. 


tution. 


ing. 








1908— 














White boys. . . 


89 


114 


182 


276 


661 


57-2 


Negro boys. . . 


17 


30 


31 


69 


147 


12.7 


White girls . . 


62 


41 


95 


99 


297 


255 


Negro girls . . 


8 


16 


14 


12 


50 


4-3 


1909— 














White boys. . . 


51 


162 


112 


335 


660 


55.9 


Negro boys. . . 


13 


42 


20 


85 


160 


135 


White girls . . 


43 


45 


25 


187 


300 


254 


Negro girls . . 


9 


24 


7 


21 


61 


51 


1 9 10 

White boys. . . 


56 


155 


64 


315 


590 


53-9 


Negro boys. . . 


19 


40 


15 


76 


155 


14.2 


White girls . . 


68 


51 


23 


151 


293 


26.7 


Negro girls . . 


9 


29 


3 


16 


57 


5-2 


191 1 — 

White boys. . . 


25 


182 


79 


204 


490 


590 


Negro boys. . . 


H 


36 


15 


61 


126 


15.18 


White girls . . . 


54 


60 


10 


56 


180 


21.1 


Negro girls . . 


ID 


20 


2 


2 


34 


41 



Our Negro Population. 



137 



The respective ages of persons arrested during 
191 1 on city and State charges are as follows: 



Ages. 



10 to 19.. 
20 to 29.. 
30 to 39. . 
40 to 49. . 
50 and over 



Totals. . 



White. 



Male. 



Female. 



1,253 
8,010 
6,728 

4,348 

2,277 



22,616 



149 
1,520 
910 
221 
204 



3,004 



Colored. 



Male. ! Female. 



154 

2,041 

1,422 

607 

324 



Total. 



54 
418 
265 
410 
135 



4,548 



1,282 



1,610 
11,989 
9,325 
5,586 
2,940 



31,450 



The tables given in this chapter show a very 
high percentage of crime for the Negro element of 
our population. 

I will now briefly note some of the most im- 
portant social and physical conditions under which 
the Negro Uves which give rise to crime. 

I . The domestic conditions or the family Hf e of 
the Negro have a more pronounced influence in the 
production of crime than any other set of causes. 
Statistics prove that the illegitimate children of all 
races notoriously drift into the criminal classes. The 
conditions of the Negro home and the family rela- 
tions have been discussed in the preceding chapters, 
hence need not be emphasized in this connection. 
However, some of them which directly influence 



138 Our Negro Population. 

crime might be profitably mentioned again — such as 
common-law marriage, together with the loose moral 
code resulting from this practice, and the neglect of 
the children, due to the fact that the women work 
away from the homes a good portion of each day. 

2. The industrial conditions also have a pro- 
found influence on crime, not only among Negroes, 
but among all races and classes. It is, however, 
especially applicable to the Negro as a result of his 
peculiar industrial position. The nature of his work 
is such that it is necessary for him to be out of em- 
ployment much of his time, and his low wages, to- 
gether with his extravagant habits, often reduce him 
to actual hunger and privation, and the hungry man 
is always a dangerous man. 

3. The density of population in the Negro dis- 
tricts naturally causes strife and contentions that 
frequently result in crime. This situation is ven 
more complicated by the presence of saloons, gam- 
bling-houses, and pool-halls. I was told by a po- 
liceman who has been working in one of the worst 
Negro districts for eight or ten years that the three 
main causes for crime among Negroes were: first, 
women; second, liquor; and third, the "gang." All 
three of these influences can be found actively at 
work in any congested Negro section of the city. 



Our Negro Population. 139 

4. Another very important cause of crime is the 
natural criminal instincts of the Negro race, which 
are evident not only in Kansas City, but in nearly 
every city in the United States where statistics have 
been gathered. 

5. The peculiar political position held by the 
Negro in this as well as in other cities in the United 
States develops a disregard for and a lack of interest 
in the law, which naturally increases the volume of 
our crime. 

The best method of deaHng with crime is to pre- 
vent the existence of the criminal class. In order to 
successfully accomplish this task, three things are 
necessary: First, good birth, which means that 
only those who are physically and mentally sound 
are allowed to marry; second, home and school 
training that will enable each individual to adjust 
himself to the social Hfe; and third, social environ- 
ment, which must be carefully looked after in order 
to ensure the best development of the individual, and 
to prevent his environment from being in any way a 
drawback to him.* 



* Ellwood, "Sociology," pp. 289-90. 



I40 Our Negro Population. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Benevolent, Insurance, and Social Societies. 

There has been a rapid development and spread 
of all sorts of beneficial, insurance, and "burial" so- 
cieties in Kansas City and elsewhere during the past 
few years. This is not, however, a phenomenon pe- 
culiar to Negroes alone, for these same social ten- 
dencies are to be found among the whites, from 
whom the imitative Negroes have copied. These 
societies are but the result of man's social instinct, 
which not only leads individuals to associate with 
one another, but leads them to work together for the 
purpose of natural protection and helpfulness. The 
mass of the race is so honeycombed with these social 
and benevolent societies that any directed influence 
may reach every atom of the race composition in 
however remote a corner. There are in these orders 
men of all ranks of society, of all religious persua- 
sions, of all conditions of wealth and poverty, of all 
degrees of ignorance and knowledge, of all political 
views, "thus furnishing a common ground upon 
which all may stand and reaHze the great principle 
of the brotherhood of man. ' ' The purely benevolent 



Our Negro Population. 141 

societies are more or less local and are usually inde- 
pendent of the secret orders, being established for 
specific purposes in their respective communities. 

These societies may be divided into two general 
classes: First, those organized and controlled by 
Negroes themselves, with functions partly social and 
partly economical ; second, those organized and man- 
aged for them by whites as a purely business propo- 
sition, such as insurance. 

In Kansas City, Missouri, there are at leat thir- 
teen societies of the former type, all of which are 
secret and ritualistic. These societies usually have 
for their members sick benefits, together with a 
burial and endowment provision. 

The following table gives a comprehensive view 
of the status of the various societies in January, 
1912: 



• a^ u • >s ,_ c 



a_. 






'o ^ ■» o 



£ c S 



sue! 



ad 5.2 

- c 2 ~ «e 



c: c LC O . O O 



i^ O c 



3 «i C 



3 o 3 Si 0; 

CQ X. ffi Jk' CC 



"2 t^ 

N| 

£ c £ 
—30 p 

03"" o 

3 o C 

CCxK 



-3-^1 

•E^T3 
3 =-> C 






! ! -.^ Lis 

i'C.c d o d ic c c o ^^wj 

^ <M CM '^ *^ 



3 o 



^ O (U 



a (5 3 o 



a« a« 






C 3 o 3.2 <u 3 



« 303 

00^ 



SQ 



S § 



s s 



lM.-H.-H 






^ r-H (N 



4) 00 



rri 


■c 




j; 




fe 


^ 


1-5 


';s 





H 


^o 


=a 


tr; 


^o 


3 


w 


CQ 




Q 




73 
0) 




=a 


Pl] 


^5 


^ 


B 


« 


a^ 


^ 



S K 



3 ' 
o ■ 

u : 
X '■ 

S3 



Our Negro Population. 143 

The first five orders named in the table are for 
men only and have a membership of 3,776, and the 
next two orders — namely, the International Order 
of Twelve, and the Sons and Daughters of Jerusa- 
lem, with a membership of 850 — are for both men 
and women, while the last six orders in the list, with 
a membership of 3,429, are composed of women only. 

An examination of the figures above shows : 

1. That there are 8,055 members of the different 
fraternal orders, of whom 4,226 are men and 3,829 
women. Many Negroes, however, belong to several 
different orders. 

2. That there are 135 different lodges or "house- 
holds," as the chapters for women are called, with an 
average membership of 59. The social tendencies 
of both the Negro men and the Negro women are 
here clearly prevalent. They take a great deal of 
interest in everything their chapters do and attend 
the meetings with much more regularity than those 
of their respective churches. 

3. That the average initiation fee for the male 
orders is $11.50, while that for the female orders is 
only $4.51. Again, the male orders pay monthly 
dues of 50 cents, while the female, with one excep- 
tion, pay only 25 cents. 

4. That out of a total membership of 8,055 there 
were 134 deaths during 191 1, for which the orders 



144 Our Negro Population. 

paid to the beneficiaries $10,720 for burial expenses, 
$16,800 in endowments, and about $1,400 for sick 
benefits, giving a total of $28,920. The Masonic 
Order alone paid to the beneficiaries of its 15 de- 
ceased $3,000. 

5. That each of the thirteen orders has sick 
benefits ranging from $2.50 to $4.50 per week, and 
that, with one exception, they all provide burial 
expenses. However, six of the orders have special 
fees with which to provide this burial fund. All the 
orders, with two exceptions, have endowment poli- 
cies ranging from $100 to $500, for which still ex- 
tra fees of from $2 to $4 are charged. Several or- 
ders require their members to carry endowment 
policies with them; however, in most cases this 
proposition is optional. A disposition on the part 
of many of the members to take advantage of the 
sick benefits has resulted in the enactment of rules 
requiring a doctor's certificate before aid is given. 
This provision, however, is not enforced by many of 
the lodges. 

6. That the average total annual dues, includ- 
ing endowments, paid by each male member is $8 
and by each female member $4.60. 

7. That the 8,055 members of the thirteen fra- 
ternal orders pay annually to their respective chap- 
ters $55,411.40. 



Our Negro Population. 145 

8. That they have property valued at $46,100. 
This wealth, owned in common in these several 
lodges, cannot but have a wholesome effect upon the 
membership population at large. The financial 
managers receive excellent training for larger service. 
The vast amount of suffering in the race, arising 
from the condition of ignorance and poverty, reveals 
the need of stirring to action the benevolent feehng 
of the race. 

The benevolences of the societies named above 
are directed in five channels: widows, orphans, 
care of sick, burial of dead, and special donations. 

The moral effect of these societies deserves a 
more than passing notice, since all permanent indi- 
vidual and racial character must rest on morality. 
Theoretically, the moral requirements of all these 
societies are such that no person known to be ad- 
dicted to immoral practices is admitted as a member. 
Drunkenness and other evil habits of intemperance 
are censured. Obedience to the laws of the land and 
respect for order are cardinal doctrines. 

These ideals are indeed high and ennobUng; 
however, it must be said that httle effort is made to 
secure their reaUzation. The position and influence 
of these societies is such that if they so desired, they 
could probably more successfully check the evils now 
so prevalent among Negroes than any other institu- 



146 Our Negro Population. 

tion. Instances are numerous, however, where they 
have really shielded their own members from the 
law. It may be said in the Negroes' behalf that this 
condition is due largely to the attitude of the Gov- 
ernment officials toward them and also to their own 
relation to the Government. 

From a religious point of view, these societies, in 
theory, are religion itself. They teach the same 
doctrine taught by the Church, though in a very 
different way. I was told by several of the leading 
Negro church-members of the city that these fra- 
ternal orders were a great hindrance to their work; 
that on account of the ideals, though not necessarily 
the real teaching and practice of those ideals, they 
seem to think that neither they need the Church nor 
the Church needs them. The fact is especially em- 
phasized by the figures above, which show a total 
annual expenditure of $55,411 for the thirteen fra- 
ternal orders and only $38,000 for the thirty-five 
different churches and missions. 

Nearly every family visited in my house-to-house 
canvass reported an expenditure for insurance. I 
found that the insurance on the lives of persons is, 
for the most part, of the "industrial type"; that is, 
for a weekly payment of a fixed sum of from 5 to 25 
cents in most cases — an amount which is determined 
by the age of the insured and the amount of in- 




THE MASONIC TEMPLE. 

At the corner of 18th Street and Woodland Avenue. 



148 Our Negro Population. 

surance carried. The money received from the in- 
surance company usually goes to pay the funeral 
expenses attendant on the death, so that it is more 
properly described as "burial insurance" than "life 
insurance." A limited number of families, as will 
be seen later, do carry a real life or an endowment 
policy of $500 or more. 

The leading industrial insurance company doing 
business in Kansas City carries both types of policies 
and handles about 98 per cent of the Negro insurance 
business of the city ; the other 2 per cent is distribu- 
ted among various companies. The Negro is unable 
to secure a policy in many of the larger companies, 
especially those located in Massachusetts. The 
reason given for this discrimination on the part of 
the companies is the unreliability of the Negro, 
while the company named above gives the opposite 
reason for making a specialty of his business. In 
view of the fact that this company handles prac- 
tically the whole of the Negro insurance business of 
the city, I think it would be worth while to explain 
fully its method of dealing with the Negro and the 
nature of its policies, so that perhaps we shall be 
able to understand why the Negro is so faithful to 
his obligations to this company while he disregards 
others. 



Our Negro Population. 149 

The annual business of the company has rapidly 
increased during the past ten years until to-day the 
weekly collections on the industrial policies alone 
exceed $1,000,000. It has sixty agents in Kansas 
City, Missouri, and 50,000 different industrial poli- 
cies, 22,000 of which are held by the Negroes of the 
city. It is with these 22,000 policies that we are 
now concerned. The information in regard to them 
was cheerfully given by one of the head men in the 
company's employment here, and hence can be re- 
lied upon as fairly accurate. These data were fur- 
ther verified by the Negro policy-holders themselves. 

Practically all the policies held by the Negroes of 
the city are industrial and are based upon the weekly 
payment of 5 cents. For each nickel added the 
value of the policy increases accordingly. There are 
two types of industrial insurance — namely, infant 
and adult. Under the division of "Infant Insur- 
ance" are classed all the policies held by children be- 
tween the ages of one and ten — the value of the 
policy depending, of course, upon the ages of the 
child, and ranging from $7.50 for infants between the 
ages of one and two to $150 for infants between the 
ages of nine and ten. Insurance is carried on prac- 
tically every child in the city, though few of the 
premiums exceed 5 cents per week. The adult in- 
surance on premiums of 5 cents per week is $116 at 



I50 Our Negro Population. 

ten years of age, $ioo at fifteen, $90 at twenty, $80 
at twenty-five, $73 at thirty, $53 at forty, $37 at 
fifty, $23 at sixty, and $12 at seventy. Nearly every 
adult of both sexes, even though he belongs to one 
or more of the fraternal orders, carries insurance 
also. Only 24 of the 348 heads of families visited 
were without insurance, and in most of those cases 
the other members of the families held policies. 
The average premium paid by each of the 22,000 
policy-holders is about 10 cents per week, giving a 
total annual expenditure of $114,400, which repre- 
sents only the value of the premiums paid to this 
one insurance company. This concern also holds a 
number of life policies, ranging from $500 to $5,000. 
The premiums on the industrial policies are 
about double those on the ordinary life policies — a 
fact which is due to the extra trouble and incon- 
venience involved in the collections. I have been 
told by men who are in positions to know the real 
facts in the case that two different industrial in- 
surance tables with different premiums are carried — 
one for Negroes and the other for whites. Of course, 
the one with the higher rate is intended for the 
Negro. This state of affairs is partly explained on 
the ground that the unsanitary conditions under 
which the Negro lives make his liability greater. 



Our Negro Population. 151 

It may be said, however, in behalf of the com- 
pany that most of its employees learn to understand 
and sympathize with the Negro; indeed, they could 
not work with them as they do and do otherwise. 
The company has in its employment in Kansas City 
twelve nurses, who are sent out to visit and to care 
for its sick policy-holders. In most instances, how- 
ever, only friendly visits are made and advice given, 
though in extreme cases they stay with the patient 
until assistance is no longer needed. 

As stated above, a very large per cent of the 
Negro insurance of the city is written by one com- 
pany. There are two reasons why this condition is 
true: First, many of the larger companies will not 
handle Negro business on account of the smallness 
of their policies, difficulties of collection, and the gen- 
eral race prejudice against them; and second, this in- 
surance company makes a specialty of their business, 
and for business purposes and other purposes poses 
as the Negroes' friend. It raises the insurance rates, 
and of course can well afford to write small policies 
and put up with the difficulties connected with the 
collections, since these nickels quickly accumulate 
into dollars, as the weekly collections of the com- 
pany, given above, indicate. While we see many 
things about these fraternal orders and their in- 
surance business to criticise, yet there are many 



152 Our Negro Population. 

things worthy of praise. They mean more to the 
Negro than we think, unless we really understand 
his financial status and the condition under which 
he lives. It is true too much emphasis is placed 
upon what he terms "a respectable burial," which 
means great display and the expenditure of a sum 
of money greatly in excess of the amount which 
his station in life would justify. Burials are usually 
referred to as ''seventy-five," "one hundred," or 
two-hundred-dollar" burials, or as "beautiful and 
elaborate funerals." They are made the occasion 
for new hats, fine clothes, and, in short, a great 
display. A "respectable burial," although com- 
mendable, does little toward uplifting the Negro or 
toward solving the many problems connected with 
his industrial and social position. More attention 
should be given to life here on earth, and more pride 
taken in the home, the clothing, the table, than in 
the mere appearance of wealth displayed at the oc- 
casional funeral of a friend. Probably 90 per cent 
of the insurance is carried with the object of pro- 
viding this burial fund. I found numerous instances 
where families were regularly receiving coal and 
groceries from the Provident Association of the city 
and at the same time paying premiums on insurance 
for every member of the family. At the suggestion 
that they drop the insurance and use this extra sum 



Our Negro Population. 153 

of money with which to purchase coal and groceries, 
and in so doing make themselves independent of the 
charitable institutions of the city, they would an- 
swer, "Man, I have just got to be buried if I should 
die." It is true very few Negroes of Kansas City 
are buried at the expense of the city, yet it is a ques- 
tion as to whether it is more desirable to live in 
poverty, ignorance, and dependence and be buried 
in luxury with the appearance of wealth than to live 
a respectable, honorable, independent life. 

I do not mean to criticise the principles of in- 
surance, though certain types of policies are not 
commendable; yet I do believe that the Negro has 
entirely the wrong attitude toward insurance, and 
that the kind of policies carried by him are expensive 
and in no way a business-like proposition. 

In addition to the fraternal orders there are a 
number of other social societies among the Kansas 
City Negroes, such as the Brotherhood, the Civic 
lycague, the Negro Social Workers, and the Colored 
Y. M. C. A. 

The Brotherhood is an organization of Negro 
social workers. Its sole object is the social better- 
ment of the race. Rev. E- S. Willett, of the Negro 
Episcopal Church, is president. He has introduced 
a departmental system for the better expedition and 
greater thoroughness of the work. The city is di- 



154 Our Negro Population. 

vided into several districts, and in each district there 
are workers in all the departments, each worker re- 
porting to the superintendent of his department, 
who summarizes and tabulates these reports. The 
departmental work is divided into the following 
divisions : First, housing and sanitation ; second, 
home and family ideals; third, juvenile improve- 
ments; fourth, health and study; fifth, industrial 
conditions; and sixth, study of morals. The Broth- 
erhood, though comparatively a new organization, is 
doing a great work. It is interesting the Negro in 
the unfortunate members of his own race, and is 
bringing him to a better understanding of the condi- 
tions under which he lives, with the object of bet- 
tering them. 

The Civic League, of which Mr. W. C. Hueston is 
president, was organized in 1907, with the object of de- 
veloping the people commercially, intellectually, and 
morally. It has monthly meetings, at which are dis- 
cussed the civic problems of the day, such as civil ser- 
vice, municipal ownership of electric light plant, etc. 
It is making a special effort to develop patriotism and 
to encourage independent voting. Last summer it 
gave a prize of $25 for the best kept yard, and the 
same offer is being made this summer. 

The Negro Social Workers are a club com- 
posed of twenty women members, with Mrs. Lu- 
ellen Williams as president. They are doing about 



Our Negro Population. 155 

the same work as the Brotherhood, outlined above, 
and are working under the direction of Miss Ellen 
Cook, of the Provident Association. During the ex- 
treme cold weather of January and February, 19 12, 
when there was so much suffering and want among 
the Negroes of the city, they offered their assistance 
to the Provident Association in caring for those in 
need. Though this organization has been in exist- 
ence only one year, it is studying the problems in a 
scientific way under the instructions of an ex- 
perienced teacher, Miss Ellen Cook ; hence, we have 
every reason for believing that the order will prosper 
in the work it has undertaken to do. 

Another institution that is destined to be a great 
factor in uplifting the race is the Colored Y. M. C. A. 
The first Colored Y. M. C. A. of this city was a vol- 
untary organization, and little interest was mani- 
fested in the work; hence it soon fell to pieces. It 
was organized again in 1907 on a much larger scale, 
and since that date the organization has been gradu- 
ally extending its influence and activities until today 
the membership numbers more than 250. It has 
Bible classes for men and boys that meet every Sun- 
day afternoon, with a weekly attendance of from 
40 to 150. Numerous gatherings are provided, at 
which talks are made by some of the practical lead- 
ers of the city, viz.: R. S. lyatshaw, A., New, I. I^. 



156 Our Negro Population. 

Dayhoff, James T. Bradley, H. M. Beardsley, W. A. 
Mars, and J. B. Clark on the following subjects: 
" Citizenship," "Savings," " Mission of Workhouse," 
"Building of a City," "Banking," and "Hotel Work- 
ers." Often regular debates are held, at which the 
different civic problems are discussed. A great deal 
of interest has been manifested in these. A regular 
night school is conducted, in which the common- 
school studies are taught by Messrs. Edw. B. 
Thompson, J. T. Fox, and M. Ross, all of whom 
teach in the public schools. 

The executive committee of the organization is 
composed of H. O. Cook, Jas. H. Crews, F. A. Harris, 
S. S. Daily, J. E. Spegener, W. H. Peck, Edw. Ross, 
W. G. Morley, and G. N. Grisham. The board of 
trustees is composed of Edw. Ross, F. A. Boaz, 
Benj. Thomas, and J. F. Shannon. 

Mr. R. B. De Frantz is employed as department 
secretary, with a salary of $1,000 per year. The Y. 
M. C. A. rooms are located at 1419 East Eighteenth 
Street. They are very much cramped in their pres^ 
ent quarters; however, they have an attractively 
furnished reading-room. Hot and cold baths are 
accessible to the members, though they have no 
place to put into use the gymnasium apparatus 
on hand. 



158 Our Negro Population. 

The organization is supported by a membership 
fee of $2 per year and by voluntary contributions. 
In December, 1910, JuHus Rosenwald, a philan- 
thropic citizen of Chicago, offered $25,000 to every 
Colored Y. M. C. A. in the country that raised at 
least $75,000 in the next five years; the amount, 
$100,000, to be devoted to the cost of land, building, 
and furnishing of such institutions. Four cities — 
Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Washington — 
have already qualified. The Kansas City Colored 
Y. M. C. A. has at the present time about $12,000 
worth of property. A canvass to secure the re- 
maining $63,000 will probably be made this fall. A 
great deal of interest is already being manifested in 
this work by all who are interested in the advance- 
ment of the Negro, and we have every reason for be- 
lieving that it will succeed. The present Colored 
Y. M. C. A. is located in the center of the great con- 
gested residence Negro district, and this fact offers 
an excellent opportunity to render a great deal of 
valuable service to the race. So far the Negro 
churches have not been successful in getting hold of 
the young Negro, whose criminal tendencies, immor- 
ality, and shiftlessness seem to be gradually increas- 
ing. The Y. M. C. A. appeals to him in a different 
way from any other organization, and if it succeeds 
in permanently influencing the Negro — and we have 



Our Negro Population. 159 

every reason for believing that it will — the effect of 
this work is sure to react upon the churches. The 
Y. M. C. A. and the churches have a wonderful field 
of labor open to them, and the solution of the Negro 
problem depends, to a large extent, upon the accom- 
plishment of the tasks set before them and in a full 
realization of their ideals. They must provide some 
substitute for the saloon and pool-hall before their 
work and influence are felt by the mass of the race or 
the general conditions materially bettered. The 
church as a social center will be discussed in the 
chapter on "Religious Life." It might be said in 
this connection, however, that several of the churches 
are doing some social settlement work, that several 
also have circulating libraries, club-rooms, etc., 
though this kind of work has only recently been 
introduced in the churches. 

The great social centers for the Negroes of Kan- 
sas City to-day are the saloons, pool-halls, and bar- 
ber shops. The pool-halls and barber shops are well 
provided with chairs, which are usually filled during 
all hours of the day. Many of those who frequent 
these places seldom patronize the business, but come 
to meet and talk with their friends. It is a common 
occurrence to see twenty or even thirty men stand- 
ing around a pool-hall or barber shop — in fact, one 
would seldom find fewer than ten in any one of them 



i6o Our Negro Population. 

between noon and midnight any day during the 
week. These facts and figures further show the 
strong social tendencies of the Negro. Most of the 
saloons in the Negro sections of the city occupy 
large rooms, provided with from one to fifteen tables. 
I visited six such saloons on Eighteenth Street be- 
tween Troost and Woodland on Friday evening the 
latter part of February and found in them 167 Negro 
men, and not more than 15 of these 167 men were 
drinking; the others were either playing cards or 
gathered around the tables watching others play. 
In several instances I saw money on the table, which 
was, of course, good evidence of betting. I visited 
nearly every saloon in all the Negro district and 
found the conditions were about the same, though 
probably not so bad as in other localities. I was 
told by several bartenders that the crowds were 
nearly double on Saturday nights what they were 
any other nights. The saloon is thus made the 
general loafing-place for the idle Negro, where he 
spends his extra change, if he chances to possess any, 
endeavoring to satisfy his natural thirst for liquor 
or to display the appearance of wealth to his many 
friends gathered around him. If a canvass of all 
the Negro pool-halls, barber shops, and saloons were 
made any evening between 7 and 10 o'clock, 1,800 or 
2,000 Negro men would be found in them; and if the 



Our Negro Population. i6i 

canvass were made on Saturday night, the number 
would probably exceed 3,000. The question natur- 
ally arises, What can we substitute for the saloon as 
a social center that will be strong enough to draw 
the Negro away from the saloon and influence him 
permanently against it? 

The first step necessary for the realization of this 
end would be to secure the enactment of a law for- 
bidding the use of chairs or tables in saloons; when 
this had been secured, and the Negro churches and 
other organizations brought to a realization of their 
real work and the opportunity placed before them, 
numerous club-rooms under the different auspices 
might be established in the localities where they are 
most needed and might be provided with chairs, pool- 
tables, a reading-room, etc. Such rooms would be 
especially inviting to the Negro men who were work- 
ing regularly and were naturally too tired to spend 
the evening standing around in a saloon. How- 
ever, the conditions under which the Negro lives, the 
kind of work he does, the example set by his white 
friend, and the hold the saloons now have upon the 
race as a whole, all go to make this a most difficult 
task — so much so that any solution of the problem 
would require years of persistent labor with the 
proper application of the elevating agencies that 
might be thrown about him. The liquor problem 



i62 Our Negro Population. 

must be solved before the general conditions under 
which the Negro lives can be materially bettered; 
this will never be accomplished until the social aspect 
of the drink and the saloon has been removed. 



Our Negro Population. 163 



CHAPTER IX. 



Education. 



As the ultimate reliance in all social reform or 
social reconstruction must be upon the education 
of the individual, therefore a permanent higher type 
of social life can only be secured by raising the intel- 
ligence and the character of the individual members 
of society. Education has a very important bearing 
upon every social problem; hence, these problems 
can be more successfully attacked by means of edu- 
cation than in any other way. 

They are constantly becoming more complex, 
owing to the diverse racial elements in the schools 
and the aptitude of the different types of children 
enrolled. 

The Constitution of Missouri, adopted in 1865, 
provided for separate schools for children of African 
descent. All pubHc school funds were to be appro- 
priated in proportion to the number of children, 
without regard to color. Separation of the schools 
is required by the laws of 1865, of 1868, of 1869, by 
the Constitution of 1875, and by a law of 1889, 
which last made it unlawful for colored children to 



164 



Our Negro Population. 



attend a white school or white children a colored 
school. The Board of Education of any city, town, 
or village is required to provide schools for the col- 
ored children who may reside within the limits of 
said city, town, or village. The Assembly of 1889 
ordered the establishment of such separate schools 
whenever there should be in any school district 
fifteen or more Negro children of school age; such 
schools to be the same in conduct, management, con- 
trol, advantages, and privileges as the white schools 
of coresponding grades. A subsequent legislature 
made provisions for combining contiguous school 
districts in which the number of children of school 
age was less than fifteen in each. 

The following table shows the number of persons 
according to race between the ages of six and twenty, 
and the school enrollment for those years clearly 
illustrates the attitude of Kansas City toward the 
enforcement of these laws and consequently toward 
the education of the Negro : 

School Statistics of Kansas City, Missouri. 





White. 


Colored. 




Number 
Between 
Ages 6 
and 20. 


Enroll. 


Per 
Cent of 
Enroll. 


Number 

Between 

Ages 6 

and 20. 


Etiroll. 


Per 
Cent of 
I'.nroll. 


1877-.. 
1880. . . 
1885. . . 

1890. . . 

1895. ■ ■ 

1900. . . 

1905- • . 
I9II. . . 


7,432 

13,240 

. 23,138 

. 39,020 

■ 37,716 

• 54,159 

• 63,471 
. 68,320 


4,226 

7.403 

10,490 

16,315 
17,861 
25,310 
29,480 
32,635 


56 
55 
45 
41 
47 
46 
46 
47 


9 
9 

3 
8 

3 
7 
4 

7 


871 
2,035 
2,372 
3,700 
3,824 
5,248 
6,263 
6,500 


406 
623 
1,516 
2,063 
2,147 
2,971 
3,123 
3,521 


46 
30 
63 
55 
56 
56 
49 
54 


6 

5 
9 

7 
I 
6 

8 

I 



Our Negro Population. 165 

From these figures we see that ever since 1885 
there has been a larger per cent of Negro children 
of the school age in school than of white children. 
This condition is indeed difficult to explain, unless it 
be attributed to the fact that only a few occupations 
are open to Negro boys, hence there is little induce- 
ment for them to leave school; it might be explained 
in part by the fact that a great many white children 
attend private schools, hence are not enrolled in the 
public schools. According to the United States 
Census for 19 10, the population of Kansas City was 
about seven times the enrollment in the public 
schools; the per cent being about the same for 
both races. 

The occupations of the parents or guardians of 
the Negro pupils in the elementary schools of Kansas 
City, Missouri, are as follows: 

Agents 4 

Barbers 42 

Railroad Men i05 

Boarding-house and Hotel Keepers 59 

Butchers 9 

Clerks 15 

Confectioners 2 

Contractors ^^ 

Draymen and Teamsters 217 

Electrical Service 2 

Engineers ^^ 

Farmers or Gardeners 39 

Laborers i »3 1 8 



i66 Our Negro Population. 

Laundresses 639 

Manufacturers i 

Mechanics 86 

Merchants 6 

Peddlers 42 

Professionals 15 

Public Officers 20 

Saloon Keepers 10 

Seamstresses 77 

Miscellaneous 472 

Total 3,210 

The birthplaces of the 3,210 Negro pupils in the 
elementary schools of Kansas City, Missouri, are as 
follows : 

Birthplaces of Colored Pupils. 

Kansas City 1,328 

Missouri, outside of Kansas City 908 

Alabama 23 

Alaska 5 

Arkansas 87 

Arizona 2 

California 2 

Colorado 17 

Connecticut. . 2 

District of Columbia 3 

Florida 2 

Georgia 9 

Illinois 37 

Indiana 3 

Iowa 18 

Kansas 345 

Kentucky 42 

Louisiana 71 

Maine 2 



Our Negro Population. 167 

Massachusetts 4 

Michigan 2 

Minnesota 5 

Mississippi 32 

Montana i 

Nebraska 5 

Nevada 3 

New York 5 

Ohio 12 

Oklahoma 75 

Oregon 3 

Pennsylvania 4 

South Carolina i 

Tennessee 45 

Texas 71 

Virginia 2 

West Virginia 3 

Wyoming i 

Unknown 30 

Total 3.210 

The following table gives a comprehensive view 
of the condition of the colored schools of Kansas 
City, Missouri: 



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170 Our Negro Population. 

From the information tabulated above we see 
that there were 66 class-rooms in the Negro schools 
of the city, while there were 3,521 pupils enrolled. 
From these figures we find that there were 53.3 
pupils enrolled for each class-room. There were 
32,635 pupils enrolled in the white schools, where 
763 class-rooms were provided for them, which gives 
an average of 42.7 pupils for each room. Taking the 
average daily number of pupils belonging as a stand- 
ard, we find that there were 39 Negro pupils for each 
room in the Negro schools, while there were 34.9 
white pupils for each room in the white schools. It 
is also evident from these figures that the average 
daily attendance is much higher among the white 
pupils than among the colored pupils. From these 
conclusions we find that the per cent of enrolled 
pupils of school age is greater among colored chil- 
dren than among the white, while the average 
daily attendance of the enrolled pupils is greater 
among the white children than among the Negro. 

Though this condition is difficult to explain, it 
may be attributed in part to the large amount of 
poverty among the Negroes of Kansas City. Many 
of the children are poorly clothed and fed and live in 
houses that are inadequately furnished and heated. 
As a result of these conditions, the Negro child is 
especially susceptible to the effects of bad weather 



Our Negro Population. 171 

and to diseases which make it necessary for him to 
be absent from school. 

Again, the value of the colored school property is 
about $465,595, while the value of the white school 
property is $5,792,468; or, in other words, the col- 
ored population, which comprises 9-7 per cent of the 
total population, is provided with pubHc school 
property valued at 7.4 per cent of the total. 

The Negro schools are well equipped, being placed 
in the same class as the white schools ; they are, how- 
ever, often assigned second-hand equipment. Nev- 
ertheless, the Negro seems fairly well satisfied, as he 
makes few protests. Though the Board of Educa- 
tion, as far as I have been able to discover, has 
shown little prejudice against the Negro in its deal- 
ings with him, the opposition on the part of white 
property-owners in and near the Negro districts 
has forced the board to locate several of the Negro 
schools in very undesirable neighborhoods. 

The figures tabulated above further show that 
$1,502,761.02 was expended for the maintenance of 
the public schools of Kansas City for the year ending 
June 30, 191 1 ; of this amount, $125,120.97, or 8.3 per 
cent of the total, was expended for the maintenance 
of the Negro schools of the city. The average cost 
of each white pupil enrolled was $42.21 and of each 
colored pupil $35 02. 



172 Our Negro Population. 

During the school year 1910-11 there were 126 
white male teachers and 30 colored, 721 white fe- 
male teachers and 54 colored, and 40 white sub- 
stitutes and 2 colored. This gives a total of 887 
white teachers and 86 colored teachers; in other 
words, there was i white teacher for every 37 white 
pupils enrolled and i Negro teacher for every 40.9 
Negro pupils enrolled. 

The Negro teachers of the city have to meet the 
same entrance requirements as do the white teachers 
and they are placed on the same salary schedule. 
The average salary paid the male teachers of the city 
per month was $137.40 and the average salary paid 
the female teachers per month was $74.92. 

The Department of Compulsory Education made 
the following report for the year ending June 30, 
191 1, concerning the cases of violation of the law: 

White. Colored. Total. 

Number of cases (individuals) 2,272 739 3,011 

Number of investigations 3,282 1,068 4,350 

Results of investigations: 

Visits to homes 3,232 944 4,176 

Visits to schools 881 269 1,150 

Warning notices (exclusive of 

court summons) 48 28 76 

Referred to Associated Charities ... 33 o 33 

Referred to Juvenile Court 119 77 196 

Excused from attending school by 

court 117 o 117 

Absent for good or fair cause i,993 409 2,402 

Absent without good cause 1,239 535 i>774 

Truant, habitual 472 122 594 

Not found or located 50 124 174 

Incorrigible 56 12 68 

Taken off street 78 194 272 

Unenrolled found 113 141 254 



Our Negro Population. 173 

A glance at the figures given in this report reveals 
a very large per cent of Negro delinquents. A lack 
of facilities for caring for these cases is responsible 
for many of them. The Negro Truant School was 
not established until the fall of 19 10, and then the 
accommodations were very much limited. The In- 
dustrial Home for Girls has only recently been es- 
tablished and was not in existence during the school 
year of 1910-11. 

During the past year vacation and night schools 
have been established in both the colored and the 
white schools, and the Negroes of the city seem to 
have appreciated the opportunity that is placed be- 
fore them, as there are 472 Negroes enrolled in the 
night schools at the present time — January 6, 19 13. 

Lincoln High School, the only Negro high school 

in the city, had an enrollment of 311 pupils during 

the school year ending June 30, 191 1. These 311 

pupils were distributed as follows: 

Boys. Girls. Total. 

First year 55 95 150 

Second year 22 60 82 

Third year 17 27 44 

Fourth year 10 25 35 

Thirty-three and three-tenths per cent of the 

pupils enrolled were boys, which is 9.6 per cent less 

than the average given for all the high schools of the 

city. Again, out of a total enrollment of 4,918 pu- 



174 O^^ Negro Population. 

pils in the high schools of the city, only 311, or 6.3 
per cent, were colored. This condition is to a large 
extent due to the general poverty of the Negro race, 
which makes it necessary for parents to take their 
children out of school just as soon as the law will per- 
mit them to do so. 

The Lincoln High vSchool, although a modern 
buiding with modern equipment, needs to be en- 
larged so as to provide about four new class-rooms 
with additional facilities for manual training work, 
and a gymnasium, which is especially needed. 

The teaching force in the high school is an unu- 
sually broad and efficient one. The members have 
manifested in many ways much interest in their 
work and in the general welfare of every individual 
pupil. One commendable act of 191 1 was a house 
visitation, in which at least one teacher visited the 
home of every family represented in the school, 
studying particularly the conditions under which 
the pupil lived and did his work. The information 
secured enabled the school to render the very best 
service possible to the individual pupils and to the 
patrons. 

In any movement to get a hold upon the Negro 
hitherto untouched regard must be had for the fact 
that he is the offspring of parents who themselves, 
as a rule, are the product of neglect — uncultured so- 





1 m^gJBk 


1 





.-SI^hBHPP^^pM^^ i J 



, 1 

1 i 

1 i 


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176 Our Negro Population. 

daily and more or less devoid of moral training. 
The school then, indeed, must supplant the home. 

Tracing the history of the Class of 191 1 back- 
ward to its entry in the high school, we secure the 
following results : 

Boys. Girls. Total. Per Cent Held. 

1907-1908 44 73 117 

1908-1909 29 55 84 71 

1909-1910 17 32 49 42 

1910-1911 10 23 33 28 

The per cent of all the high schools of the city for 
the same period of years was 37.4. 

A fairly large per cent of the graduates of the 
Lincoln High School continue their school work in 
various colleges and universities, as will be seen by 
the following figures : 

Number Went to 

in Class. Other Schools. 

Class of 1909 28 15 

Class of 1910 28 10 

Class of 191 1 :i^ 10 

Many of these students attend the various schools 
in Kansas, while there are Negroes in Kansas City 
who are graduates of nearly every large Negro school 
in the country and most of the Eastern and Northern 
universities. Eight alumni of Lincoln High School 
received diplomas from various of these schools 
during the single year of 191 1 . 



Our Negro Population. 177 

The educational progress among the Negroes has 
been more satisfactory than their industrial progress. 
At the time of the emancipation 95 per cent of all the 
Negroes in the United States were illiterate, while 
only 44.6 per cent were ilHterate in 1900. This de- 
crease in the percentage of ilUteracy among the Ne- 
groes is especially noticeable in Missouri, where the 
percentage decreased from 53.9 per cent in 1880 to 
4 1 . 7 per cent in 1 890 and to 2 8 per cent in 1 900. The 
percentage of iUiteracy in Kansas City for 1900 was 
only 3.9 per cent; the native white being .7, the 
foreign white 8.8, and the colored 19.4 per cent. The 
Government statistics on this subject, according to 
the 1 9 10 census, are not as yet available. 

I think that I am safe in saying that the Ameri- 
can people have arrived at the stage where they are 
wilHng to say that the Negro is essentially human 
and can be educated, that he should be the chief 
agent for his own education, and that the education 
of Negroes, as of whites, should be compulsory. 
The welfare of the white people in this and eveiy 
other large city in our land requires the proper edu- 
cation and training of the Negro. Under present 
conditions our efforts should be more largely and im- 
mediately directed to the training of the Negro 
children in the practical industries which directly 
affect his physical welfare. Instruction in hygiene 



1 78 Our Negro Population. 

and sanitation is of paramount importance. Unless 
the Negro home is reconstructed and made clean and 
sanitary, and efforts are made to prevent and elim- 
inate disease, all efforts educationally will be futile. 
Early and middle adolescence is still the great crime 
period. The shrinking of the average home largely 
accounts for this condition, but the ethical failure of 
the public school is to a large degree responsible 
also. It is significant that the worst year in boy- 
hood is usually the year after leaving school. One 
cause, and a very important one, is the fact that the 
children are too often turned out of our schools half 
educated and hence ill equipped to meet and solve 
the difficult problem of life. 

To assure the future of any people there must be 
a growth in both thinking and doing. The Negro 
race especially must learn to think and to do for 
itself. The youth of the race should be taught to be 
industrious, to learn that work hurts no one, and 
that all labor is honorable. A trained intellect and a 
trained body go together to make a perfect man. 



Our Negro Population. 179 



CHAPTER X. 



Reugious I^ife. 

The strong social tendencies of the Negro, as re- 
lated to fraternal orders, clubs, etc., have been dis- 
cussed in a preceding chapter, and it now remains 
for us to examine, in all its varied relations and ac- 
tivities, another great social and religious institu- 
tion — namely, the Church. The Church appeals 
especially to the Negro for two reasons: first, his 
childish emotional nature is essentially religious — 
fearing or adoring the unseen powers; and second, 
the Church serves not only as the religious, but also 
as the social center for him. The easy method of 
organization in the churches and their insistence 
on feeHng, rather than on conduct, have appealed 
strongly to the great mass of the Negro people. 

The following table reveals the numerical and 
financial strength and the benevolent activities of 
the Negro churches of Kansas City, Missouri. It 
will be seen that the Roman Catholic Church has not 
made the progress among Negroes which one would 
expect of the Church which has such a hold upon the 
common people of southern Europe. Only a small 



i8o 



Our Negro Population. 



number are members of the Episcopalian and the 
Christian Churches, while the majority belong to the 
Baptist Church. The rest are divided among the 
four branches of the Methodist Church, the African 
Methodists being decidedly the strongest: 
Negro Churches of Kansas City. 







k 


6 














O r^ 


o . 


. 










Q.I 


l-c <V 

Is 


•So 


11 

3,900 




si 

HQ 


Wo 




OS 
3-3 
<2S 


Baptist. . . 


9 


8 


$190,300 


$15,300 


$1,250 


$6,050 


$5,045 


A. M. E.* 


4 


3 


1,958 


163,010 


35,665 


858 


7,864 


4,109 


M. K 


I 


I 


750 


25,000 


2,600 


350 


600 


1,405 


C. M. E.. 


I 


o 


125 


5,000 


1,600 


100 


150 


700 


A.M.E.Z. 


I 


2 


93 


2,000 


1,900 


125 


225 


850 


Christian . 


2 


o 


180 


12,000 


8,400 


60 


275 


100 


Episcopal. 


I 


I 


150 


12,000 




205 


2,000 


620 


Catholic. . 


O 


I 




























Total.. 


19 


i6 


7,156 


$409,310 


$65,465 


$2,948 


$17,164 


$12,829 



The table above shows that there are in Kansas 
City 19 Negro churches and 16 missions, with a total 
membership of 7,156. These 7,156 Negro church- 
members own church property valued at $409,310, or 
$57.19 for each individual member. These figures 
are indeed gratifying, since the per capita wealth of 
the Kansas City Negro is only $80.61. It might be 

*A. M. E. — African Methodist Episcopal. 
M. E. — Methodist Episcopal. 
CM. E. — Colored Methodist Episcopal. 
A. M. E. Z. — African Methodist Episcopal Zion. 



Our Negro Population. i8i 

added, however, that the large majority of the 
Church members are adults, and, as stated in a pre- 
vious chapter, are the large Negro property-owners 
of the city; hence the per capita wealth of the 
church members would be far in excess of the figures 
given for the entire city. 

The total church indebtedness is only $65,465, 
which, it seems to me, is rather remarkable. The 
Second Baptist Church, located on the southwest 
corner of Tenth and Charlotte Streets, of which 
Samuel Bacote has been pastor for nearly thirty 
years, has a church plant valued at about $100,000, 
which is entirely free from debt. The Vine Street 
and the Pleasant Green Baptist churches, valued at 
$27,000 and $17,000, respectively, are also free from 
debt. This excellent financial condition of the 
Negro churches of the city is not due entirely to the 
Negro himself, since a great deal of assistance has 
been given to these churches by the white people of 
the city. Again, several pieces of church proper- 
ty, purchased twenty or thirty years ago at small 
figures, have greatly increased in value during the 
past few years. 

It is indeed a curious phenomenon that we have 
23,566 Negroes, comprising 9.7 per cent of a commu- 
nity's population (but holding only .0124 per cent of 
that community's property), owning church property 



I82 



Our Negro Population. 



equal in value to nearly one-fifth of all their other 
property. When he attends church, the Kansas 
City Negro is in surroundings not altogether com- 
mensurate with his financial ability. The meager 
exhibit of the foregoing table in the way of contribu- 
tions for other than local needs need not, therefore, 
surprise us. This fact may be further emphasized 
by the following figures, which show that the total 
contributions to the Church during 191 1 were 
$32,941, or $4.61 for each individual member. The 
donations for benevolences, which included foreign 
and home missions and local charities, were $2,948, 
or $10.41 for each church member, or $0.12 for each 
Negro of Kansas City. These figures do not reveal 
a very altruistic conception of religious obligations. 
The total membership of 7,156 for all the churches 
of the city, though seemingly large, gives a per cent 
which is, in reality, far below what it should be and 
what it has been in former years. The ministers of 
the different churches tell me that they are not able 
to get a permanent hold upon the young men and 
women of to-day, a fact which is attributed to the 
influence of the saloons, pool-halls, nickel shows, apd 
other places of amusement, which as social centers 
are gradually taking the place of the churches. The 
churches are just awakening to a realization of this 
condition, and it is hoped that they will be able to 




ALLEN CHAPEL A. M. E. CHURCH 

Is located on the southeast corner of Tenth and Cliarlotte Streets. Institutional 
church work has recently been installed there. 



184 Our Negro Population. 

solve this problem, and thus give to the Church the 
religious and social position it should occupy. 

Only 10 of the 19 Negro preachers of the city 
devote their entire time to the church work, while 
the remaining 9 follow various lines of work, con- 
tributing to the Church as much time and abihty as 
they have at their disposal. A majority of the regu- 
lar ministers are college men, posessing a marked 
degree of abihty, of whom Wm. H. Peck, of Allen 
Chapel African Methodist, Samuel W. Bacote, of 
the Second Baptist, and Rev. E. S. Willett, of the 
First Episcopal Church, are the most prominent. 
These men, together with several others, are doing a 
work that would be creditable to any church, re- 
gardless of race or color. 

The Negro churches have practically the same 
organization as have the white churches, such as 
vSunday-schools, Young People's Unions, Women's 
Clubs, Mission Classes, etc., while a few of these 
churches, in addition to these activities, provide 
libraries, playgrounds, and nurseries. 

In native ability, training, and conduct the Negro 
ministers of Kansas City are probably considerably 
above the average Negro minister. But here, as 
elsewhere, and as in the case of many a white min- 
ister, the Negro minister too often preaches simply 
to supply a natural demand, and is content to 



Our Negro Population. 185 

achieve, as a rule, the standard which his flock sets 
for him. Poor leadership morally and empty ser- 
mons intellectually are much more easily over- 
looked by the ordinary Negro congregation than ina- 
bility to draw the crowd and secure money with 
which to erect elaborate church buildings. 

The sixteen Negro missions in the city are, as a 
whole, not doing a very commendable work. Some 
of the churches, under whose auspices these missions 
are established, exercise a very loose supervision 
over them, and the exceedingly small contributions 
for this purpose do not provide ample funds with 
which to employ efficient workers and to do a cred- 
itable work. There are, however, two missions and 
nurseries that are decidedly above the average — one 
established by the Episcopal Church and the other 
by the Allen Chapel African Methodist Church. I 
shall outline briefly the work of each of these 
institutions. 

The Saint Simon's Nursery House was estab- 
lished by the Negro Episcopal Church of this city in 
1 9 10 for neglected Negro children. It is located at 
No. 558 Lydia Avenue, in what is known as "Hicks' 
Hollow," which is one of the most poverty-stricken 
and disreputable Negro sections of the city. It is 
one of the few Negro charitable institutions that 
have received the approval of the Board of Public 



1 86 Our Negro Population. 

Welfare. It is supported almost entirely by volun- 
tary contributions. The institution has accommo- 
dations for only twenty children; however, it is 
taxed to the limit all the time. It should be en- 
larged or a similar one erected, by which at least 
seventy-five needy children could be cared for. The 
Nursery House is managed by an experienced worker, 
who devotes to it all his time. This institution is 
doing a noble work in an organized and business- 
like way, and deserves the support and confidence of 
all good people. 

Allen Chapel, the largest African Methodist 
Church in Kansas City, was enlarged last year so as 
to furnish room for all the various activities of insti- 
tutional church work. It now has free baths, a 
swimming-pool 32x15 feet, a basketball court, a 
gymnasium, a circulating library, a day nursery, and 
a domestic science room. This church, together 
with others, has gone into active competition with 
the Negro saloons, nickel shows, pool-halls, and the 
Negro "Lid" Club in bidding for the interest of 
the Negro race. 

Religious conditions among the Negroes of Kan- 
sas City are not satisfactory. The churches are not 
strongly attracting the elements they ought to have 
— namely, the exceptional, the educated, the enter- 
prising Negroes — in short, the leaders of the race. 




THE SECOND BAPTIST CHURCH 

Is located on the southwesst corner of Tenth and Charlotte Streets. It is the 
largest Negro church in the city. The property is valued at $1()0.()()(), and is 
entirely free from debt. 



i88 Our Negro Population. 

There is in Kansas City a wonderful opportunity 
for the educated Negro who has a love for humanity 
that will lead him to give his life to the uplifting of 
the great mass of his race. There could be no 
greater or nobler work. As stated in another chap- 
ter, the Negro's sphere of activity is so much lim- 
ited that he is forced to come in contact with our 
most degraded citizenship; hence he becomes hard- 
ened to these evils. I have been told by people 
who were in positions to know the facts that often 
Negro women sing during the night in the white 
bawdy-houses and for the Negro churches on vSunday 
mornings, while many Negro men serve as bar- 
tenders and porters in saloons during the week, then 
sit on the front seats in church on Sunday. These 
acts are not thought to be inconsistent with Chris- 
tian teaching. These conditions make the problems 
all the more difficult; hence they demand educated 
and efficient workers. It may be said of the edu- 
cated Negro, the same as of the educated white man, 
that he does not seem to realize that his permanent 
progress depends, to a very large extent, upon the 
general advance of the whole race; neither is he la- 
boring to uplift the race as he should, but rather to 
use the ignorant Negro as a means by which he may 
accumulate a fortune. 



Our Negro Population. 189 

The Negroes are dividing into two distinct 
classes more decidedly, it seems to me, than any 
other nationality in our country. A minority are 
improving, taking advantage of education, advanc- 
ing in morality and industry, acquiring property, 
and becoming good citizens. These few are setting 
a standard and are giving us hope of what the Ne- 
gro can and may become. The majority are not 
improving, but are rather retrograding. They are 
thinking that a little education will give them the 
privilege of living without manual labor; they are 
making higher wages the way to less work, rather 
than the way to a higher standard of life; they are 
shiftless, immoral, and criminal. It is the work and 
province of the Church to try to increase the smaller 
higher class and to decrease this larger lower class. 
The latter group will steadily decrease in two ways : 
first, by promoting their best into the higher class, 
thus swelling that slowly; second, by casting off 
their worst through the diseases that spring from 
idleness, self-indulgence, filth, and immorality. 



